Wolf's Bane
by Aria Daughter of Chaos
Summary: Bonnie, Elena and Caroline need the Mikaelson's help on a quest - the Mikaelsons of a thousand years ago. They go back in the past to try and save their future but will they wind up changing it? Will it be for better or worse? (Kennett, Elejah, Klaroline, Stebekah? possibly?)
1. Chapter 1

**Wolf's Bane**

By: Aria Daughter of Chaos and Lab7417

 **Chapter 1**

It had been two hours before the ball but out of all the things Tyler had to do-he does _that_ to her? Oh hell no little Mister Hybrid Ass!

She had caught him-half naked-with some wolf named Hayley Marshall, just having wild sex right there on the couch and Caroline was filled with fury. After returning to her house, Caroline had gone back to the Lockwood Mansion once she had what she wanted and right in front of him, she set fire to all the photos of them together that she had stockpiled into a box.

He should have known better than to cheat on her.

Nothing says 'fury like a woman scorned' better than setting fire to all the crap that he had given her plus all the photos.

VVVVVVVVVVVVVVV

Since Bonnie Bennett wasn't invited to the ball, she decided to order in some Chinese food and began playing _The Time Traveler's Wife_ which was the sappiest romantic movie she could get her hands on. It was a good thing that Elena and Caroline weren't there with her otherwise they would need fifteen boxes of tissues-just between _the two girls_.

The only two movies that Bonnie had cried at were _Milo and Otis_ and _Marley & Me_. It wasn't her fault that those two movies were the ones that brought out her sappy side! She got halfway through it before shutting it off and going to sleep where her weird dreams began…

 _Bonnie was running as the sounds of howling wolves were slowly closing in on her and a beautiful gold ring was sitting on a tree trunk right in front of her suddenly. As she tried to reach it, it kept slipping away until the scene faded and she was inside of a hut where she was facing a woman who held raw power._

 _"I am Ayana," even with how she spoke Bonnie could feel her power. "I have called you here for your help."_

 _"Why do you need my help?" Bonnie was apprehensive as the last time one of her ancestors asked for help, she ended up possessed and did not want that to happen again._

 _"The ring you saw earlier is an abomination created by Esther. It is to make sure that her children-who you call the Original Vampires-can, surely be killed by any alpha werewolf who possesses it."_

 _Bonnie was paling. "Klaus is a Hybrid-he could wear the ring and his blood can heal other vampires who were bitten."_

 _Ayana nodded. "True but she has spelled it so only a werewolf-not a_ Hybrid _like Niklaus-can wear the ring. I cannot reach it on my own as it is hidden but we both can find it by merging our powers."_

 _Bonnie looked at her and she could see the truth ringing in her statement. It was totally possible that this ring really exists, otherwise why would she be having these dreams about it ever since she and Stefan hid those coffins that belong to Klaus that hold his siblings._

 _"I'm guessing that Esther is also a vampire?" Ayana laughed at her._

 _"She is a witch-she is known as the Original Witch."_

Great, _Bonnie thought sarcastically,_ I'm going on a trip to 'whereversville' to take out a ring and an evil witch who created the first vampires ever in existence. Best. Day. Ever. NOT!

 _"Where are we?" she asked, now looking around curiously at her surroundings. Ayana nodded and showed her outside where it seemed that everything that she grew up with was gone. All around her was nature and huts and-a giant pyre?_

 _"This is the tenth century-during the time of the Originals as humans."_

 _Bonnie nodded. "I'll do this as long as I can bring Elena Gilbert and Caroline Forbes."_

 _"Consider it done."_

With a sudden start, Bonnie woke up, sitting upright and was covered in cold sweat that beaded down from her hairline to the top of her tank top.

Blindly, she kicked off the covers and raced into her bathroom to take a nice warm shower.

VVVVVVVVVVVVV

If there were things that annoyed Elena Gilbert, it was both Salvatore brothers telling her that she should _not_ go to the Mikaelson's ball but damn it she wanted to go and it wasn't because Esther Mikaelson-the mother of the Originals herself-had asked her to go to the ball. No, she wanted to go to the ball as she believed that this would be her only chance to actually go to something like that.

Smiling, she went over to her closet and looked again at the gown she had bought for the occasion. She knew that the brothers would be furious with her for 'disobeying a simple demand' but she didn't care.

VVVVVVVVVVVVVV

Just as she predicted, both Damon and Stefan were furious with her but she couldn't help herself as she smirked at them when she met another Original. He looked a bit like his older brother Elijah but he seemed to have the same impetuous nature and discipline problems as Klaus. The young original smiled at her as he held out his palm. She placed her hand in his and raised her knuckles towards his lips.

"Kol Mikaelson." He introduced himself with a sultry look his eyes never leaving hers as he kissed her hand.

"Elena Gilbert." Elena blushed at the archaic tradition that still held the power to sway a woman.

VVVVVVVVVVVVVV

Caroline, in her stunning blue dress, found Klaus and smiled as the two began to dance. She looked over her shoulder and saw how unhappy Elena was to be dancing with Damon. She knew that Elena was having problems with both Salvatores but she didn't think that they were this bad.

Caroline wanted her best friend (who she thought of as a sister) to be happy and she had a feeling that her happiness wasn't being trapped in a tug-of-war between two brothers.

VVVVVVVVVVVVV

Bonnie was flipping through her grimoire - once she had exited her shower and redressed herself into a nicer set of pajamas as well as replaced the sweat covered sheets with a fresh set of purple sheets - when she found the spell that would take her back into the past with both Elena and Caroline.

Smiling, she placed a bookmark on the page and crawled back into her nice fresh bed, hoping to have non-weird dreams this time.

VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV

 **A/N: This is our first time co-authoring together. We hope that you enjoy it as much as we enjoyed writing it. Please review we live for them!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

It's been two days since the ball and the near genocide attempt when Bonnie texted Elena and Caroline.

 _"It's urgent. Meet me at my grams place."_

If anyone told Elena Gilbert, Caroline Forbes and Bonnie Bennett that they would all sit around a circle in the backyard of a dead witch's house, each one of them would have you committed. Yet here they were all sitting around a circle that Bonnie had drawn in the middle of her grams' backyard as the witch began to speak.

"Look-all I know for sure is that there's this ring we need to destroy." She looked at her vampire blonde best friend and her doppelgänger one. "It's for werewolves and part of the spell on them is so that they can't accidentally change-like a Moonlight Ring-though in our case, this ring can give a werewolf the power to not just kill an Original Vampire, but as Ayana told me-it will kill their entire bloodline." She gave them a look as to say 'are you willing to risk your life on a chance that it doesn't exist?'

Elena believed her. Despite all the problems she was having with Stefan being this crazy revenge driven psychopathic killer suddenly bereft of emotions for her and Damon being…well, Damon-a vampire who seemed to have some sort of feelings for her and yet at the same time, those feelings she believed stemmed from the fact that she was a little naïve _human_ version of the vampire who gave him her blood.

Katherine Pierce.

When she and Matt were on the Wickery Bridge the night of Caroline's birthday, she not only let go of her old self but she let go of all of those feelings she had for the Salvatores.

She wasn't going to deny that at one point, she loved the both of them-it would be a lie to say that she didn't-but with the way they were acting towards her and how they had begun to suffocate her but also began to coddle her, she felt like she was a doll or a marionette puppet on a string being commanded by them.

"I'm going with you Bon," Elena already knew that she was going. "Besides-who knows what could happen to us in…whatever time we're going to be in."

Caroline, ever the organizer, also nodded, "Anything to get me away from the brothers and a certain hybrid."

They knew that she had to be talking about Tyler. He came back and was telling her how 'in love' he was with her only to catch him with his pants down to his ankles and a half naked brunette she-wolf crying out his name.

What followed after Caroline caught them? Numerous slaps and neck snapping, gutting (by Elena when she was told) and those were only done by the three best friends. Whatever Klaus, Damon and Stefan did to him, no one knows and it turns out, it's a good thing.

"So," Elena's false bravado was certainly strange to her friends. "Where are we going to be precisely? Past or future?"

"Past." Bonnie groaned out as she read the instructions on how to place the ingredients that were needed for this spell.

"Elena-I need eight drops of blood from you on the candles as you're the doppelgänger," she recited. "Caroline-as the resident vampire I need at least the same amount of blood drops from you also on the candles."

The two girls nodded and as each one pricked their fingers on the needles that Bonnie had procured for them, Bonnie herself did the same thing and each drop fell onto each of the candles that were lit.

The flames turned red before melting into an amber color.

Bonnie, once she saw what was happening, began to chant.

 _"Mittere ad tempus trium oblitus maiorum nostrorum preces nostras tueri et da"_

With all that said, the wind sped up and the sounds of fireworks filtered through not just the air but themselves at the same time that each flame jumped as high as nine feet and covered the circle. Lights flashed in and out of the sky and the telephone poles were knocked over on the street. Every electronic device within a hundred feet of their location suddenly shut off and the girls fell unconscious as the lights highlighted them. Moments later everything returned to normal but the girls were gone.

No one knew what was going on-Damon didn't know, Stefan definitely had no clue, the Originals were out of the loop and even poor Matt didn't bother to know what was going on.

 **((A/N: Mittere ad tempus trium oblitus maiorum nostrorum preces nostras tueri et da translates to By three to send to a time forgotten, ancestors hear our prayers and allow us to protect our future))**


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

As they reawakened Elena, Bonnie and Caroline realized they were in the woods instead of Bonnie's Gram's backyard. They all got to their feet and then realized that they were not as alone as they originally thought. A woman appeared before them but while Elena and Caroline were apprehensive Bonnie seemed to recognize her.

"Ayana"

"Bonnie Bennett, Caroline Forbes and Elena Gilbert I have been waiting for you," she greeted. "I've come to offer you a little help on your quest but most of it lies in your hands. I'm going to spell it so you can speak and understand the language and also so that your clothing and appearance fit in." She began to chant then and the girls watched in amazement as their jeans were replaced with period gowns – navy for Caroline, emerald for Elena and purple for Bonnie. Their hair grew long so that each girl's stopped at the small of their back. Elena's was wavy without the modern convenience of a flat iron as was Caroline's, Bonnie's was straight and smooth in a braid down her back.

"Wow! Look at your hair!" Caroline exclaimed pointing to Elena.

"Look at yours," Elena replied.

"Now the village is a short walk that way," Ayana said as she pointed. "You needn't worry about Esther and Mikael as they are already out of the picture but you are on your own for the rest of it. Please do not fail." She was gone in the blink of an eye a moment later.

"Wow…we're a thousand years in the past…" Caroline marveled. "So what do we do first?"

"We find a Mikaelson – preferably not one of the psychotic ones…" Bonnie sighed. Caroline ran in the direction Ayana had pointed the village to be only to come to a full-stop a short distance away. She looked at Bonnie and Elena in total shock.

"I think I'm human," she worried.

"Wow," Elena said with obvious amazement.

"Well that was unexpected," Caroline said.

"Hey it's a chance to be human again," Bonnie smiled brightly. Caroline put on her best smile but Elena could tell that it didn't quite reach her eyes. Caroline had more than made her peace with being a vampire. She had reveled in it. Not to mention this put them at a definite disadvantage with the Mikaelsons.

They walked through the forest until they came to the outskirts of the village. It was definitely a different time. They took in the buildings and the people mingling about still unaware of their presence. As they walked around the outskirts Elena noticed wild horses in the distance. They were beautiful and she walked towards them.

As she reached the field where they stood she saw a man in the distance. He seemed to be tending the horses. Suddenly he looked up and straight at her. He covered the field between them in an instant to stand before her and she found her breath coming in short gasps. His hair was longer but she would know those beautiful brown eyes anywhere. The lack of suit made her smirk.

"Elijah"

"Tatia?" Elijah frowned – clearly pained. Elena couldn't help it as she reached out and laid her hand on his arm.

"No, my name is Elena and I have a nearly unbelievable story to tell you but we need your help," she said gently. She looked over her shoulder to see Caroline and Bonnie hurrying to catch up with her.

"Oh my goodness Elijah" Caroline gasped as she took in his appearance.

"Have we met? I'm afraid I don't remember you and I would not forget ladies as lovely as you," Elijah spoke with an easy smile though his eyes only left Elena's for a moment.

"We have met," Bonnie said, "only a thousand years in the future…"

"Impossible"

"Not when you're an original vampire," Elena said unflinching as he stared at her with that announcement.

"How would you…" he began.

"Know that? Because we've met you and I know how to prove it," Caroline said. Bonnie and Elena stared at her.

"Damon and Stefan have entered other people's memories before…" Caroline explained.

"Caroline we have to be extremely careful not to contaminate the timeline!" Bonnie worried. Elijah was regarding them with skepticism.

"As a vampire you can enter another vampire or even a human's mind and see memories. Caroline was going to show you proof that we've met in the future but Bonnie and I are worried that if you saw too much or something important that it could ruin the timeline," Elena said gently.

"You do realize how foolish all of this sounds?" Elijah asked.

"No worse than trying to explain to someone that you're a vampire and can't be killed although you're technically already dead," Caroline said. Elijah realized that she was quite correct. He had firsthand experience with the seemingly impossible.

"Okay…I'm willing to try this and though I have never done it before I will try not to venture too far or be influenced by anything I see," Elijah said. So he'd been born with his unfailing morals and principles.

"Okay, Elena you've had by far and away the most memories with him. Can you think of one that won't get us into trouble?" Bonnie asked with a very serious expression. Elena thought long and hard trying to think of a moment with Elijah when they had not been deep in discussion about some plot or other. Finally a smile came to her face. Elijah found it interesting that this young woman Elena had spent the most time in the future with him – well he had always had a thing for brunettes.

"Yes, I've got one"

"Do you know how this works?" Elijah asked.

"Well not exactly…I think you just think about slipping into someone's mind and then it happens…" Elena said.

"I will try," Elijah said and Elena stood bravely before him. He closed his eyes and tried to imagine what it would feel like to slip inside someone's mind. Suddenly he was in a vast room walking up steps towards his siblings. The room was full of people. The women in strange gowns and the men in black and white attire – he smiled as he joined his siblings. Klaus was there, Finn, Rebekah and Kol. They were all smiling and they looked so happy. If this was a thousand years in the future then he wanted this. Their future looked good. As he turned while he was speaking to the crowd he saw her. The beautiful young woman before him that looked so much like Tatia but wasn't. Her eyes were locked with his and he wondered again – judging by the look she was giving him – what their relationship was. The blonde woman was also there and he got a brief of image of her dancing with a smiling Niklaus before he was jolted back into the present.

"Did it work?" Elena worried as all three of the girls stared at him anxiously.

"Yes I saw all of my siblings at some kind of gathering and you were there," Elijah said. "Why are you here?"

"We have to find and destroy a ring," Bonnie said.

"Well, well Elijah. It's not like you to keep all the ladies to yourself," Klaus grinned where he had just appeared. Caroline blushed as she looked at him.

"Tatia? It's not possible…" Klaus immediately looked haunted. It had only been a month ago that they she had died and now impossibly she stood before them. What form of magic was this that haunted them now?

"She is not Tatia brother," Elijah said. "They have come for our help."

"Come from where? I know I wouldn't forget a face as lovely as this," Klaus grinned at Caroline who blushed again while Bonnie rolled her eyes.

"The future actually," Caroline sighed as Klaus looked incredulous.

"I'm inclined to believe them brother," Elijah said seriously. "They know much about us and I have seen a memory." Elijah went on to explain what he had seen.

"What are you looking for?" Klaus asked.

"A ring called Wolf's Bane" Bonnie said.

"Seriously brother? You're seriously buying that these three maidens are from the future and they came all the way back for a ring?" Klaus started laughing. Elijah noticed the looks of defeat on the girl's faces.

"I believe them," Elijah said. "Their hearts would jump if they weren't being honest." Elena's eyes snapped to his as he said this and Elijah couldn't help but wonder if he found her eyes this mesmerizing in the future.

"Okay if you're from the future then tell me something," Klaus demanded.

"You're a hybrid," Caroline said boldly. That announcement wiped the smirk right off of Klaus' face.

"Come it's getting late and we need to get in," Elijah said. "We'll need to be careful with her – she'll attract a lot of attention." He motioned to Elena. They carefully made their way into the village and into the home they had once shared with their parents.

"Excuse me could you show me to the bathroom?" Caroline asked. Elijah and Klaus frowned at her.

"What is a bathroom?"

"Something that doesn't exist yet," Bonnie growled. "watch it or we're going to ruin the future!"

"Okay so where does one…" Caroline began and Bonnie and Elena pointed outdoors.

"Can we hurry up and find that ring?" Caroline groaned as she slipped outside. No sooner had she left than another Mikaelson appeared. This one had Bonnie and Elena both going pale Elijah noticed.

"Kol," they gasped almost in unison. He smiled brightly at them and walked over.

"I'm sorry I don't remember meeting you," he offered his hand. For a moment neither of the girls moved but then Elena offered out her hand and Kol kissed her knuckles. Bonnie offered hers out next and as Kol kissed her knuckles his eyes never left hers. He smiled charmingly at her.

"I'm sorry I don't know your names although you seem to know mine," he said still looking at Bonnie. Elijah didn't miss the fact that her heart was racing.

"Bonnie," she said still shocked by how different this Kol seemed from the psychotic one in the future - although both of them definitely had the ability to make her go weak in the knees. She pulled her hand back where he had still been holding it.

"No one told me we were having company," Rebekah gasped where she came in the back door. Kol gasped and instantly rushed to his sister when he noticed that she had blood on her from her latest meal. He was obviously worried about keeping their secret.

"It's okay Kol, they know what we are," Elijah said and Kol frowned. "We'll explain over dinner."

Rebekah looked at them with skepticism but then hurried to clean herself and return to some sense of presentable. Meanwhile Finn entered the hut and the introductions began once more. Caroline had returned as Finn, Elijah and Klaus were serving up the stew that had been cooking on the hearth.

"Oh wow, this is really good," Caroline exclaimed as she took a bite, "and I am starving." Elena noticed the Mikaelsons only took half as much as what they offered to their guests. They were already finding a balance for their new diet. She took a bite of her stew and found that it was indeed delicious.

"Thank you," Rebekah smiled gently. It was hard to juxtapose this sweet, humble young woman with her modern-day counterpart. A thousand years had been good to some of them and not so kind to others. Elena found herself wishing that she could give them a few lessons to avoid their modern day outcomes. She'd start with those damn daggers.

"Now that we are all assembled could you please tell us all what brings you here," Elijah invited as they sat near the hearth enjoying their meal. Bonnie looked around at their faces hoping that they would be able to take her words seriously. Elena reached over with her free hand to give Bonnie's hand a squeeze.

"Ayana came to me in the future and told me that you all were in trouble. That we needed to destroy a threat but that she couldn't do so alone. That threat is a ring that would allow werewolves to kill you."

"We already know that a werewolf bite can kill a vampire," Rebekah frowned. Caroline bit her lip. It was going to be very hard not to disclose everything they knew.

"In a thousand years there will be many more vampires in the world," Bonnie disclosed carefully. "As the first vampires you play by a different set of rules so-to-speak." She looked helplessly to Elena and Caroline. If she pointed out to them how special they were might they consider themselves kings and queens? Would they go on a killing spree? The fear of changing anything became almost suffocating.

"They are worried about changing our future and in turn their future," Elijah interjected.

"Every time I've ever seen this in a mov- err book it has never turned out well," Bonnie sighed. Elijah saw the worry on the girl's faces.

"I think we need to trust them and not ask so many questions," he spoke to his siblings. "What if someone had told our parents that all of this would come to pass – that Henrik would be killed? Perhaps they would have done things differently…"

"If they had done things differently Henrik and Tatia would still be alive," Klaus growled.

"But what Elijah is saying is that our future is like a carefully woven tapestry," Finn said. "If a single stitch is removed the whole thing could unravel." The looks on the Mikaelson's faces showed that they were clearly trying to understand the seriousness of the situation.

"I promise we do not want to do you harm. Your continued existence is very important to us," Elena said gently and Elijah once again wondered what they were to one another in the future.

The siblings finally agreed that they would place their trust in their big brother and in the strangers that he had such faith in. As the hearth was stoked a final time everyone settled in on their pallets on the floor. Rebekah and their guests were given the spots closest to the hearth followed by Kol, Klaus, Finn and finally Elijah slept nearest to the door. Elena inwardly smiled – no wonder Elijah had such a penchant for super posh bedding and five star hotels. He had definitely earned it. She laid her head down on the pallet and tried not to think about her own warm bed at home.


	4. Chapter 4

**(A/N: Thank you for the reviews. We're glad that you're enjoying. Please keep them coming.)**

 **(PS-I'M BACK!)**

 **Chapter 4**

When Elena woke the next morning it was to the rustling of all the others rising. The sun was barely up in the sky. Caroline groaned as Elena tried to wake her. Bonnie just rolled over before Elena's second attempt was successful.

"Is there something we can help you with?" Elena asked.

"They should avoid the villagers," Elijah cautioned.

"I need to meet with Ayana," Bonnie said.

"We could gather reeds by the stream," Rebekah said. "We could use some new baskets…" Elijah nodded. They carefully left the village and Klaus and Kol veered off to go hunting while Rebekah, Caroline, Elena, Finn and Elijah headed for the field.

"Be careful brothers," Rebekah smiled.

"You too sister," Elijah smiled. "Take care of our guests." Rebekah nodded and they watched Finn and Elijah continue towards the horses. Rebekah kneeled beside the stream and some long reeds that were growing along the bank.

"These reeds make excellent baskets," Rebekah said. "You just want to use the sickle and trim close to the bottom here." She demonstrated adeptly. She handed a tool to Elena and one to Caroline. Caroline gripped the reed and moved to cut it when Rebekah's quick reflexes and strength stopped her mid-swing.

"Don't hold it like that! Your fingers…" Rebekah worried and as Caroline and Elena examined the situation Caroline most certainly would have injured herself severely.

"Thank you," Caroline smiled. Rebekah smiled and nodded.

"Always hold the reed well above where you want to cut and swing away from yourself," Rebekah instructed. "Cutting yourself – especially around me – would be a bad idea."

"Oh yeah," Caroline and Elena suddenly remembered that they were in the presence of a newly turned vampire with very little control. Soon the girls were happily working at cutting the reeds. By mid-morning there was quite a pile amassed. Kol appeared over the ridge about that time and Finn joined them.

"Please excuse us but we find that if we – ah, quench our thirst frequently then we can control our actions," Finn explained.

"By all means," Elena smiled. "We shall stay right here and wait for your return Rebekah." The blonde original smiled sweetly at them as did the two brothers and then they were off in a flash.

"They are so different," Caroline sighed as she went back to cutting reeds.

"It's amazing to see them so happy. It makes me wish that I could protect them from all the rest, you know?" Elena sighed as she put down her sickle and then removed her slippers. She held up her dress a little and stepped gingerly onto a rock in the stream smiling as the water washed over her feet.

"Elena Gilbert what are you doing?" Caroline giggled.

"I'm taking a break and enjoying this fine day. After all it's not like we haven't walked around in this stream before."

"Never in this much clothing!" Caroline giggled. "What would you do if I pushed you in right now?"

"Pull you in with me of course!" Elena smiled. Caroline removed her slippers as well and soon joined Elena. A rock skipped across and splashed both ladies causing them to squeal. Klaus stood slightly upstream with a wolfish grin on his face. All the shifting about when she'd been splashed threw Caroline off balance and she began to fall. Before she could hit the water though a strong arm was wrapped around her waist supporting her in what looked like a beautiful dip.

Her eyes locked with Klaus' and she blushed mightily.

"Thank you. I just knew I was going to get all wet," Caroline said on a breathless tone.

"We couldn't have that," Klaus answered his gaze never leaving hers.

"Oh for heaven sakes what are you doing?" Rebekah fussed as she reappeared. Klaus righted Caroline and she held his hand as she stepped back onto the bank.

"Niklaus you are such a tease," Rebekah laughed. "Tell me is he still this hopeless with women a thousand years down the road?" Caroline blushed even further.

"Tell me you are not my brother's wife!" Rebekah demanded with an enthusiastic giggle.

"No"

"Are you in love with him?" Rebekah asked and the whole group went quiet.

"We collected some more reeds while you were gone," Elena broke the silence. Klaus could hear Caroline's heart racing – so she was in love with him, maybe at least a little. He was already drawn to her brave nature not to mention her beautiful figure.

"Okay we should have enough to make a few new baskets," Rebekah said as she settled on the ground near the pile of reeds.

"I'll leave you ladies to it then," Klaus said and he hurried off to join Elijah and Finn. Rebekah would get the weaving started and then hand it off to Elena or Caroline to finish. Starting the base was the hardest part but soon with everyone working together they made eight new baskets.

"Come we can take these to the house and it is time to put dinner on to cook," Rebekah said. As they made the hut Rebekah put one of the baskets to instant use and filled it with items from the cellar where they stored their food. She put a large chunk of salted meat into the pot over the stove and added a pail of water. Then she chopped up carrots and celery adding them to the pot along with peas. She swung the pot into the hearth where it would cook until dinner time.

Then she pulled out the ingredients for dough.

"Could I make something?" Caroline asked.

"Of course," Rebekah said. Caroline found some fresh plums and blackberries in some baskets. She sliced up the plums and put the slices and the blackberries onto squares of the pastry. Then she beat up the egg. She folded each square over diagonally and sealed the edge with the egg bath. Then they cut two lines in the top of each to let the steam out.

"Those look delicious!" Rebekah enthused. She covered them with a towel until later when it would be time for them to cook on the hearth.

"Okay what now?" Caroline asked.

They delivered the midday meal to the boys and then picked berries. Finally it was time to milk cows.

"You can't even milk a cow?" Rebekah asked incredulously when Caroline stood before the animal clueless.

"No"

Rebekah sighed and carefully demonstrated the technique. Then she put her hand over Caroline's helping her to get a feel for it. Finally Caroline and the cow got into an amicable routine and she filled the pail with milk. Elena was laughing as she milked the cow and the spray splashed all over her.

"Truly you are very dreadful at this. You would not make good wives," Rebekah laughed. Then her look became more solemn. Caroline laid a hand on her arm.

"Don't worry. Everything that you are going to go through – good and bad – it's all going to lead up to something great. Don't ever give up or lose hope."

"It will? What am I like? Am I still pretty a thousand years from now?" she asked eagerly.

"You're stunning," Elena smiled.

"A little intimidating really," Caroline grinned.

"You're very nice," Rebekah smiled. "Okay ladies let us go and grab a quick bite before we wash up for dinner." They walked back towards the stream. Rebekah saw deer at the edge of the clearing and they watched as she made short work of hunting one.

Meanwhile Caroline wiggled around in the confines of her bodice. Elena loosened the straps and Caroline breathed a sigh of relief. Then she began to pull pieces of straw and blackberry briars from Elena's hair.

"You know I really like your hair like this," Caroline smiled.

"Well it would be easier to maintain back home," Elena sighed. "I wonder exactly how they wash it."

Rebekah joined them a few moments later and she removed a pouch from her side and pulled out a bar of soap. She settled next to the stream and began to lather her hands and then her face. She passed the soap to Caroline who followed suit and passed it to Elena. The others joined them and everyone washed face and hands before they returned to the Mikaelson's home.

Caroline and Rebekah put the pastries on to cook while everyone else began to get ready for the dinner meal. About that time Kol came back from fetching Bonnie at Ayana's.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

As soon as Kol dropped off Bonnie at Ayana's hut, Ayana took her on the way to a cave where many candles were lit and the walls had drawings of different symbols and letterings that made no sense to her without the spell but with it, she could tell what each word spelled and they were names.

Finn, Elijah, Niklaus, Kol, Rebekah, Henrik. The names of the Mikaelson siblings and only five of them are still alive-well, _undead_ at the moment.

"We need to locate Wolf's Bane quickly and then the three of you will return to your time."

Bonnie nodded and as she held Ayana's hands while they began to chant but the only things that kept flashing through their eyes were scenes of a forest filled with vervain flowers, jasmine and honeysuckle alongside tall trees.

Wolves were surrounding them as they looked around until they spotted it.

The ring was sitting on a stump in the middle of the forest.

It seemed like a good omen until they looked up at the sky and each one looked horrified.

It was a full moon and as they turned to look back at the ring, they saw a wolf take it into a little area of the forest that had a tunnel and as the two followed the wolf with the ring they saw a cave that looked familiar…

Bonnie could have hit her head when she realized why it looked so familiar-it was the same tunnel that was underneath the Lockwood Cellar. It was the same cellar and tunnel that can't be accessed by vampires and hybrids where Tyler would always change in.

VVVVVVVVVVV

Out of all the things that Kol could do-which basically meant feeding indiscreetly on the animals which tasted horrible-he had to go to Ayana's to pick up the witch Bonnie.

As he shoved his head into Ayana's hut, he saw that they had indeed left and went to tracking them down. He followed their scent to the caves that his family had used to save themselves from the monstrous beasts known as werewolves. The second his head was halfway through the opening, his eyes closed, he sniffed the air and they flashed open as the scent of magic infused blood tickled his senses.

Instead of seeing them standing up and chanting, he saw that they were on the ground with blood seeping from their conjoined hands.

"Ayana! Bonnie!" He called out to them when he noticed that they were-indeed-still among the living.

Ayana shot up, letting go of Bonnie's bleeding hand and she said, "the ring has been moved from many different locations Kol."

"Where do we find this 'ring' then Ayana?" he asked but she didn't answer. Bonnie did.

"The last we saw a wolf had hidden it into another cave two villages over inside another cave that no vampire can enter."

Out of all the things for wolves to do and to place things, he had to admit that they were pretty smart. Placing something of such value into a cave that no _vampire_ can enter was smart but at the same time, it was pretty stupid. It wasn't as if a vampire would willingly walk into a wolf's den but…he realized something with a flash.

"Are you and your friends able to enter such a den?" Bonnie didn't answer but as she walked over to him, he cut his hand on the rock walls and placed it in hers so that it will heal.

"Be safe and swift on your journey," Ayana said seriously. Nodding his thanks to Ayana, Bonnie did the same and the two trekked back towards where the Mikaelson siblings lived.

VVVVVVVVVVVVV

"So this ring is where again?" Finn asked in a soft voice as they were all seated. Elijah by Elena, Caroline by Klaus, Finn on Elijah's other side, Rebekah on Klaus' other side, Bonnie in between Elena and Caroline and Kol in between Finn and Rebekah. "I could have sworn that you said it was in a wolf's den _two villages over_!" The last part was nearly a yell.

"It is in a wolf's den two villages over," Bonnie didn't care for Finn's slight panic attack and little temper tantrum. "Is there a problem with your hearing?"

Elijah soothed both. "Big brother-you know with magic that certain things happen in such a way." That little revelation threw the futures into a loop. Finn _was_ the oldest?

"I had thought you were," Caroline choked out while staring at Elijah. He seemed to be the one in charge. "You seem to be…" she added as a light blush appeared on her face. Finn wanted to say something but stopped when Elijah looked at them with a look of curiosity before it faltered.

"You cannot tell us why that it may seem that I am the eldest, correct?" At Elena's nod, he sighed. "I came a few years after Finn in the Old World while the rest of my siblings were born here."

"Great history lesson," Bonnie told him with a look of amusement on her face before it turned serious. "Now, the problem at hand-how and when do we travel to this place where the ring is?"

Rebekah spoke up. "As we have a few horses, we can leave at nightfall in two days time but one of us should be here…" she looked at each of her big brothers, wondering if she would be the one to stay when Finn put his hand on her shoulder.

"I will stay and you journey with them." He kissed her forehead tenderly and smiled at her wide eyed look. "I want you to see the world-as much of it as you can and on this journey, you can." She gave him the widest smile and he hoped that in the future, she would always give him that same smile.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

It was the middle of the night as they loaded what they needed into a bag that they slung across a horse's back. Finn helped Rebekah as she slung her leg over and settled on the blanket that was draped on the horse's back. Her dress draped over the horse. Elijah mounted and then looked to Elena.

"Come on you are with me," Elijah said. Finn helped Elena to settle behind Elijah and she wrapped her arms tightly around his chest.

"Never ridden a horse before?"

"Never"

"I can't wait to see this future of yours," Elijah smirked. Caroline mounted up with Klaus and Bonnie buried her head against Kol's back.

"Be safe my brothers. I will lead anyone astray that comes looking," Finn promised.

"Protect yourself brother," Elijah said as he gripped Finn's arm. "We'll be back as soon as we can." Then Elijah spurred his horse forward and they walked quietly out of the village. As soon as they were out of range Elijah spurred his horse into a run and Elena squealed and gripped him tighter as she buried her head against him.

"It is a very good thing I no longer require breath," he mused. "I won't let anything happen to you Elena. I will protect you but you need to learn to move with the horse and not be so stiff or you will be very sore." Elena began to move her body in time with his answering the movement of the horse. After a while she relaxed and loosened her grip as she sat up to take in their surroundings.

They were headed north and at this hour of the morning they did not encounter anyone on the roads. As they approached another village they slowed the horses and steered off the road to pass through the woods – giving it a wide berth. As the sun broke the horizon they stopped for their first break. They built a small fire and the Mikaelsons took turns hunting while Elena, Bonnie and Caroline prepared oatmeal with blackberries for breakfast.

They were watering the horses in the stream and with Bonnie and Elena busy preparing breakfast Caroline wandered down to rub the horses as they drank. A few minutes later she was joined by Klaus – Nik as she was getting used to calling him. He spoke not a word but sat down on the bank of the stream and she found herself joining him.

Caroline could have been the poster child for perfection, OCD and party planning but as she was sitting in front of Klaus beside the stream she felt an odd sensation in her. She could have used many words to describe it but none of them seemed to matter and as she studied the face of a man - who a thousand years into the future would become a ruthless killer, she couldn't help but feel sorry for him.

He had lost his youngest brother and the girl he believed himself in love with in tragedies. He had begun to remind her of Elena when she found out that her parents were dead-anger, sadness, loneliness and hopelessness.

"Have you ever experienced loss?" he asked her out of the blue. She closed her eyes as flashes of her father danced in her eyes.

"I lost my father a while ago." She whispered. "He had been attacked by another hybrid while trying to break a sire bond and the doctor gave him vampire blood to heal."

"Your word truly confuses me," he told her. "Doctor? What is it?"

She smiled. "Think like a healer." She explained and he nodded. "Anyway-he was stabbed and died but refused to transition so mom and I…" she couldn't finish her sentence and she felt arms go around her. Klaus Mikaelson-the big bad Original Alpha Hybrid-is _hugging her_. She could feel his lean but muscular physique but she didn't seem to care until he carried her into his arms and waded into the water.

"What are-" she was cut off as he threw her in, soaking her head to foot. Spluttering up water when she reached the surface, she saw his cheeky grin and gave him one back.

 _This is so on!_ She thought with that same smirk on her face as she turned around so that her back faced him. With one hand, she began to undo the laces of her heavy dress until his hand stopped her.

"As lovely it would be to see you without this on," his voice was a low whisper in her ear that made her shiver. "I doubt that you know _exactly_ what to really do in such a situation." She turned her head to see his darkened eyes but no veins and lengthened fangs but with his front pressed into her back, she did _feel_ something else.

Using that to her advantage, she began to purr out, "what makes _you_ think that I don't know what to do in such a situation?"

One hand was pressed deeply into her waist and his whispered voice turned into a growl. "I have had _many experiences_ of this sort Miss Caroline." Her breathing hitched, she scrambled away from him and made it onto a nearby rock. One thing's for sure-if he could affect her in such a way and she affects him, why hasn't he acted on it in her time?

VVVVVVVVVVVV

As soon as breakfast was finished they mounted the horses and continued on. They stopped every couple of hours to water the horses and see to everyone's needs but the rest of the time they rode hard until a little after nightfall.

"Niklaus," Rebekah called to her brother who was in the lead.

"We can press on a little further," Klaus said with determination.

"But they can't," Rebekah said gently. Caroline was resting wearily against Klaus' back and Kol had Bonnie seated in front of him. She had fallen asleep in his embrace. Elijah nodded his agreement with his sister and they found a place to make camp for the night. They were deep in the woods near a pond. Kol woke Bonnie and helped her to slide off the horse.

"I'm so sorry," Bonnie apologized feeling odd for what had happened.

"Do not make yourself uneasy," Kol replied gently. "I did not mind. It was most pleasant – the feel of your heartbeat in comparison with mine." She looked at him as though she were seeing him clearly for the first time and then she shook her head to clear away the clouded thoughts and emotions.

Everyone dismounted the horses and they worked to string up a series of ropes between several trees and then stack hides to make shelter from the weather. Kol got a fire going and Rebekah divided up some of the food they had brought along. There was some cheese and bread.

"I am going to take a bath," Rebekah announced after dinner. "Would anyone care to join me?" She looked to the other ladies.

"That sounds fantastic," Caroline enthused. In the end Caroline, Bonnie and Rebekah made their way to the pond while the men turned with determination in the opposite direction. They sat around the fire carving wood and teasing one another as brothers are apt to do. Elena could not believe the difference as she walked a path halfway between the pond and the fire. She was coming to understand better why Elijah was so determined to protect his family. It was because he remembered them like this and he wanted to hold on to the possibility that they could be like this again with both hands.

When the girls finished bathing and redressed they rejoined the fire and Kol began to comb the water delicately out of Rebekah's hair. Caroline was having a difficult time trying to do anything with hers so long.

"Please let me help," Klaus offered. She looked at him skeptically but then handed the comb over and he began to make gentle strokes. Caroline looked to Elena with a raised brow and Elena responded with a gentle smile.

Later that night as the fire was dying down and most everyone was asleep something woke Elena. She looked around and noticed that Elijah was missing. As she stepped out into the clearing she stared overhead at the nearly full moon and worry clenched her insides tight again.

She heard splashing from the pond and realized that someone was in there. She crept into the bushes and slowly worked her way forward. As she reached the edge she realized that it was Elijah, exposed from the waist up water rivulets glistening off his skin in the moonlight. Her heart and respiratory system went into overdrive as she watched him continue his bath seemingly oblivious to her presence.

His muscled physique pulled taught as he adjusted this way and that scrubbing himself with the soap. She couldn't believe this was what was hidden under those three-piece suits – dear God in Heaven! He sank completely under the water and she waited for him to emerge…and waited…and waited…

She hurried to the edge of the water as she worried something had happened to him.

"If you're going to stare you may as well join me," he whispered against her ear from directly behind her before he threw a hand over her mouth cutting off the scream he was sure she was going to emit. He drug her into the water in the under gown she had been sleeping in pulling her along until she was beyond her depth and letting her go under before he helped her back to safe footing.

"I'm soaked!" Elena gasped in a whisper.

"Well I thought perhaps you were watching for instruction on the subject," Elijah couldn't help the smirk.

"I wasn't…"

"Elena I could see you the entire time," Elijah refuted with a grin as he took the soap and began to wash her long mane of hair. "I thought you knew all about vampire senses…"

"It's not like you to behave like this," Elena said in a far more sensuous whisper than she had intended.

"Then there is something wrong with me if I no longer return the attentions of a beautiful woman. It was your intention to be spying on _me_ I assume? You weren't looking for Klaus? Or Kol?" Elena's heart was about to beat right out of her chest and Elijah could feel her desire for him – conscious or not – with every fiber of his body.

"No," Elena barely whispered but he heard her perfectly. He turned her around in his embrace so they were facing one another as he washed the crown of her head. Then he bent her backwards over his arm as if he were dipping her. He ran his free hand through her tresses helping to rinse them while his other arm supported her. The staccato of her heart and the uneven rise and fall of her chest was giving him ideas he likely shouldn't entertain with a maiden. He wasn't going to point out to her either that the sheer white of her under gown had gone completely translucent in the water and he could see the rosy peaks of her nipples straining against the material that confined them.

As he brought her back upright her hands seized the soap from him and instead of scrubbing herself she placed the soap against his chest and began to run her hands over his muscles. He closed his eyes as he concentrated only on the feel of her skin as it roamed over his own from his waist up his torso and then his shoulders. Then she wrapped her arms around and attempted to wash his back. The further she got the more she brought their bodies together. Soon she could feel every inch of him pressed against her. With a gasp she dropped the soap from her hands and only his quick reflexes caught it.

Her gaze was riveted to his and he took the soap and began to wash her neck and shoulders, her arms and her back. She was emitting little sounds of pleasure and as he began to wash her front side through the gown he leaned down and his lips met hers. She hesitated but a moment before she was responding. Her arms wrapped around his neck and he pulled away for only an instant before they were kissing again. When he finally pulled back they were both breathing hard. He cupped the side of her face gently.

"Elena…have we done this before?" he asked gently.

"I can't…" she said breathily. She rose up on her tiptoes and covered his lips with hers. He swept her up into his arms and carried her from the water to a nearby rock. The night was warm and they didn't require the warmth of a fire. He took a comb out from his things and gently began to comb her hair.

"I've done this for Rebekah since she was a little girl," he said softly to break the silence. "Your hair is very beautiful. Most people prefer blondes but I've always liked dark hair."

"Thank you," Elena said gently.

"You look like her," Elijah began gently, "but you're not like her. Tatia was beautiful and she was nice to talk with but she liked to give her heart too freely. She gave it to me…but she gave it to my brother at the same time…"

"I'm sorry."

"I knew she had a child before she came here. You must be a descendant of that child."

"Yes, a long way down the line," Elena smiled over her shoulder at him.

"Elena…I don't know how things are in the future but you can trust me," he said, "and I feel like I can trust you…so long as it's not to keep from watching me bathe." Elena turned around to glare at him her now-dry hair flying over her shoulder in a waterfall of silk. She looked at him with indignation.

"It's okay. I really didn't mind," Elijah smirked at her before he leaned in to kiss her again.

 **(A/N: Hope you enjoyed this chapter! Please remember to review)**


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

"Bonnie," Kol whispered gently as he rubbed the back of his fingers against her arm. Bonnie bolted upright and Kol cried out grabbing his head. He dropped to his knees in pain and his brothers were at his side at once both glaring a Bonnie.

"What have you done witch?" Klaus growled.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean it. It's just Kol startled me," Bonnie worried.

"That's quite a punch," Kol said as he regained his footing and held out his hand to help Bonnie up. "You're a very powerful witch. It felt like my head was exploding."

"It kind of was. I'm used to doing that on – well on vampires when they get out of line," Bonnie said.

"I don't like to be intimidated either," Kol admitted with a smile. "No hard feelings?" Bonnie smiled and gave a quick nod. Once everyone had finished breakfast the men mounted the horses and then helped the ladies on behind them.

"I like that your heart beats faster only for me," Elijah said softly as he felt Elena's arms slip around his chest.

"They'll hear you," Elena gasped.

"That's okay," Elijah smirked. "I'm sure they've already worked that out for themselves." Elena leaned in and inhaled the smell that was only Elijah – present or future. The party rode until mid-morning when it was time for the horses and the vampires to get something to eat.

"This is kind of fun you know," Caroline grinned. "It's like one of those adventures that you only read about in a book only now we're living it – our own real quest!"

"Yes where if we don't succeed people we love and care for could die," Elena said but her first thoughts were no longer for Stefan and Damon – instead she immediately thought of Elijah and last night in the pond.

"Elena what are you thinking about? You're as red as a rose!" Bonnie gasped.  
VVVVVVVVVVVVVV  
The Present

Elijah Mikaelson smirked as he lay nestled in his silk sheets and down comforter. The new memory he had gained while he slept had his senses racing. Elena Gilbert was making a play for him a thousand years in the past! At least a thousand years ago he wouldn't have felt quite so duty-bound to resist her.

As his brain remembered snatching her into the lake and then washing her hair he turned his shower on cold – not that it would help! As he washed clean he remembered the electricity of her touch against his skin – setting him on fire. This was going to make her return to the present rather interesting. Were they going to pick up where they left off in the present? Or rewrite history thanks to the past?  
VVVVVVVVVVVVVV

"Are you asleep back there?" Kol asked gently as they were scouting a place to camp for the night.

"No" Bonnie replied stiffening.

"You were so relaxed back there I thought I'd check. Rebekah would probably pummel me if I let you fall off," Kol said.

"There's a cave up ahead," Klaus called out.

"Who wants to be the lucky one to see if it's inhabited?" Elijah sighed.

"I'll do it," Bonnie offered.

"I could not risk you doing something so dangerous…suppose it was a bear," Kol said.

"What if I could promise I wouldn't even have to set foot in the cave?" Bonnie hypothesized. As Kol helped her down from the horse Bonnie neared the cave entrance. She began to chant and suddenly a blue aura appeared at the entrance to the cave and then moved deeper inward. Bonnie continued to chant and finally the light returned.

"There is nothing harmful inside there," she pronounced.

"That was magnificent," Kol said with reverence.

"Thank you," Bonnie smiled.

"I like that much better than the one from this morning."

"I am sorry about that," Bonnie blushed.

"Okay, what's for dinner? I'm starving," Klaus grinned. It made Elena a little uneasy. In response Klaus grabbed Caroline's wrist and brought it within inches of his mouth.

"How about I have a taste of you?" he stared deeply into Caroline's eyes.

"No!" Bonnie commanded and she raised a hand prepared to act. Elijah and Kol were instantly at Klaus' side. For a long, tense moment the two factions faced off.

"Stop!" Elena decried and she left Bonnie and Caroline's side to stand between the Mikaelsons and her friends. "We can't turn on one another. That's exactly what the wolves would need to win. Bonnie I don't think he was serious and Klaus you must be respectful of the fact that we may be a little nervous at times knowing what your diet is."

A moment later the tense situation dissolved.

"Niklaus," Elijah chided.

"Forgive me brother but it is hard to resist a taste of something that smells so very sweet," Klaus grinned to Caroline.

After dinner Kol found Bonnie lying on her back in a nearby clearing. He quietly joined her arranging his body to lie next to hers and staring up into the heavens. The sky was full of stars but the most prominent feature was the moon that was almost completely full.

"I have always liked staring at the stars," Kol said gently. "I try to make shapes by connecting them. Did you know that you can navigate by the stars because they are a fixed location like the sun?"

"Did you know that moss grows on the north side of a tree?" Bonnie answered. Kol rolled onto his side to stare down into her gaze. He smiled as her heart rate increased.

"Did you know I think you're the most beautiful and talented lady I have ever met?" he whispered. Bonnie shook her head in the negative slightly. Kol smiled and then he leaned in and his lips met hers. The kiss was gentle and sweet. He pulled back a few inches and then whispered again.

"Did you know I was going to kiss your lips?" Bonnie reached up with the arm furthest from Kol and pulled his lips back to hers for another kiss. This one wasn't as hesitant as the first and with a sigh of pleasure from Bonnie Kol slipped his tongue past her lips and set her soul on fire. Unbeknownst to them little twinkling fireflies began to fill the air around them. Kol slipped a hand behind Bonnie's neck gently cradling her as they paused for her to breathe and then their mouths met once more.

Bonnie waited for the small voice inside her head that would say she shouldn't be doing this. He's a vampire. She's a witch. In her time he's practically psychotic and at the very least dangerous. She waited for her mind to make any of these arguments but they didn't come. Instead she felt safe and desired in his arms. His shoulder length hair fell around them like a veil and she could feel the distinctive beat of his vampire heart against her chest. She heard him inhale deeply for the second time and she paused.

"What are you doing?" she asked carefully.

"I'm sorting out your smells," he said as though it were second nature. "You see now that I'm a vampire I have an amazing sense of smell which is sometimes horrid but other times comes in handy. For instance I know what fear smells like so I can tell if someone is afraid of me. That's usually because they've been told what we are now. It kind of hurts when that happens but I can understand too."

"What do you smell now?" Bonnie asked curious. Kol inhaled deeply again and smiled.

"Well I smell what makes you, well you – the soap my sister leant you to wash your hair with and the roses you rubbed against your skin this morning. Then I smell other things. I can smell the magic in your blood. It's what tells me right off that you're a witch."

"Wow," Bonnie marveled.

"There's another smell that I've never smelled before…but I like it. It makes me want to kiss you over and over again just to keep smelling it." He leaned in and kissed her deeply again.

Meanwhile Elijah joined Klaus where he was leaned against a tree at the edge of the clearing watching Kol silently in case he should need to intervene.

"He takes after you," Elijah whispered as he followed Klaus' gaze to watch Kol kissing Bonnie.

"Nonsense," Klaus rebutted, "he gets all that smooth talking from you – over there describing all of what he smells. I had half a mind to add to his instruction and let him know that other smell is desire and she's papering the field with it! Who was in charge of his instruction with regards to the opposite sex anyhow?"

"I was leaving it up to Finn," Elijah grinned.

"Looks like he's doing a fine job sorting it out on his own," Klaus grinned where Kol was now feathering kisses on every inch of Bonnie's exposed skin.

"Unless she opens her eyes," Elijah said and they watched as Kol's face completely changed with the heightened emotions raging through him. After the next kiss Bonnie opened her eyes and froze in his arms. She sat upright – bringing herself to the same height as him but she didn't move. Elijah and Klaus watched the scene ready to intervene if needed.

"Bonnie?" Kol frowned at her sudden change. She gently reached out a hand her chest heaving with her shaking breaths. Her outstretched hand trembled a little as he watched her reach towards him. He suddenly realized that his face had changed - his eyes dark and his fangs out. He waited – frozen – to see what she would do next. Would she run? Scream?

Bonnie's hand came to rest gently on his cheek and she fingered the prominent veins as her eyes studied him. Then she carefully moved in closer and she kissed him again. Kol groaned as her tongue brushed up against his fangs. His arms slid around her back bringing her more protectively against him.

"Maybe our younger brother should be instructing us," Klaus scoffed.

"Perhaps you need it," Elijah teased boldly. "I'm rather sure I do not."

"The lovely Elena cannot seem to keep her eyes off of you today," Klaus said as he put his arm around Elijah's shoulder and they left Bonnie and Kol to walk back towards the fire.

When they parted for breath again Kol tenderly tucked back a strand of hair that had escaped from Bonnie's long braid.

"Only my siblings do not turn away from me when my face changes," Kol said. "I could have bitten you."

"Strong emotions also trigger that response. In my time Elena calls it 'vamping out'," Bonnie laughed gently and Kol joined her.

"Vamping out - I like that and I definitely have strong emotions where you are concerned Bonnie. Do you belong to another in your time?"

"No," Bonnie looked to the ground.

"Are there no men in the future or are they all daft? I want you to be mine Bonnie Bennett – now and a thousand years from now." Bonnie's eyes locked with his and she could feel her heart pounding in her chest. Would things have been different if she had met this Kol a thousand years in the future?

"A thousand years does a lot of things to people," Bonnie sighed.

"Then how about now," Kol said before he pulled her to him for another kiss.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

 _The Present_

 _Somewhere in Illinois_

If there was one thing that both Stefan Salvatore and Matt Donovan could agree on, it was that this stupid road trip to find the girls who were 'hiding out' may have been a bad idea. As soon as Jeremy alerted them to the fact that Elena was missing Damon had decided it was upon them to 'mount up the cavalry' and chase them down. He had decided it was road trip time and had even recruited Tyler Lockwood and Matt Donovan.

Four hundred miles down the road and two pit stops later Tyler and Damon were in the front seat and bickering like an old married couple of the same sex. Stefan adjusted his sunshades hoping to alleviate the tension headache he could feel coming on.

"Go left-you imbecile! I said left-not right!"

"You didn't say if it was your left or mine! You just said 'go left' and I went left!"

"You do understand which way is which, right? I can't afford for this baby to be in a crash as it cost a fortune - five bottles of bourbon and a night I should never have forgotten with a bride-to-be in VEGAS!"

"Oh untwist your boxers you ass! I'm a perfectly good driver-GET OUT OF THE WAY YOU FREAKING MORONS! IT'S A RED LIGHT FOR GOD'S SAKE! NOT GREEN! RED!"

Stefan was half a hairs breadth away from snapping their necks, locking them in the trunk and driving it into the nearest body of water-at this moment, he didn't care if it was the Pacific Ocean or a river.

Matt was worse off. Since they started this, he had to listen to heavy rock and roll, classical and Taylor Swift along with Miley Cyrus and Carly Rae Jepsen. He would have preferred Bon Jovi and Boys Like Girls over those songs. However, the elder Salvatore had decreed 'his car, his radio'. He didn't even get the chance to pack anything except for ten water bottles and a few articles of clothing for whichever hotel they would be staying in which so far-were rat infested and smelled like cabbage and cigarettes.

Counting backwards from ten to one nearly a hundred times, Stefan shouted, "I DON'T GIVE A DAMN RATS ASS ABOUT WHICH WAY TO GO! JUST DAMN WELL DRIVE SO WE CAN FIND THEM!"

There was a moment of absolute silence in the car as Tyler put on the blinker and timidly turned the car left towards the next town to search.

VVVVVVVVVVVVVVV

 _The Past_

Klaus was the first to wake the next morning. He smiled as he felt a warm body pressed against his. Caroline was curled against him and as he propped himself up – careful not to wake her – he saw that Elijah was holding Elena against him and Kol was curled around Bonnie. They hadn't known these women a week ago and yet there was something about Caroline that made him loathe to part with her. She was beautiful to be sure – they all were – but it was more than that. She was kind to his family now – when the rest of the world declared them monsters. She was witty and flirtatious. Last night she had even been fearless as she stared him down while his fangs were inches from her wrist. She probably would have let him bite her. He felt a pang deep within his chest as he realized that they would be leaving.

He stepped to the cave entrance to get some air and was joined by Elijah a few minutes later.

"I don't want to let her go," Klaus answered Elijah's unspoken question.

"We have to. They don't belong here and the longer they stay in our time the more it endangers theirs," Elijah responded though he agreed with his brother. He was already falling in love with Elena.

"What if we sent a happy outcome forward to the future?"

"What did you have in mind – marrying them?" Elijah asked.

"And turning them," Klaus grinned. "If we sent them here we would be waiting to help them when they got back."

"They would be ours and there is nothing fate could do about it," Kol joined them. "I don't want to lose Bonnie."

"You'd still have to wait a thousand years to see them again," Elijah reminded them and feeling the pain in his chest at the thought of being without Elena.

"At least when we got there we'd know they were ours," Kol stated. As the girls slept on the men discussed their options.

VVVVVVVVVVVVV

 _The Present_

 _Mikaelson Mansion_

 _Mystic Falls_

"Elijah I'm starting to have memories of going on a quest with Caroline, Elena and Bonnie," Kol frowned.

"Their trip to the past is changing things," Elijah said.

"Will it go back to the way it was when they return?" Kol asked and Elijah saw the worry on his younger brother's face.

"No whatever they're creating in the past right now will carry forward," Elijah smiled. Kol grinned – he and his little witch had some catching up to do when she got back. He replayed the memory of them in the clearing again as he left the room.

As soon as he did Elijah's smile was replaced with worry. He was replaying the newest memory – a plan to turn Elena, Caroline and Bonnie. With no way to influence things he could only watch helplessly as events unfolded. A thousand years ago he lacked the restraint that had come with time. Were they going to do it? If they were successful what would it mean for everyone?

VVVVVVVVVVVVVV

 _The Past_

By mid-morning the wind had definitely picked up and Elena could smell the coming storm in the air. The sky which had been a beautiful blue this morning was now a dark grey. She watched as birds flew with urgency overhead looking for shelter before the storm.

"We need to find shelter before this hits!" Klaus worried.

"No we have got to keep going. The full moon is tonight. They will be coming for you," Elena worried.

"I thought you said they didn't know anything!" Klaus growled from atop his mount as they wove their way through the forest.

"They don't but they'll still know what you are. It's too dangerous. We keep going!" Elena demanded fearlessly. Elijah nudged his horse into a run to make better time. By the time they reached a cave outside a nearby village it had been raining for hours. Everyone was soaked. Elijah could feel Elena's head against his back though his sodden clothing. Kol and Rebekah were the first off their horses and Kol quickly pulled Bonnie down.

"You're shivering," he worried and then he glared at Elena.

"We're all cold but we'll be okay," Elena said as she slid off the horse and the weight of all her soaked layers almost pulled her to the ground. Elijah reached out quickly and grabbed her arm helping her to stand upright.

"This looks like what we saw," Bonnie gasped.

"Then let's get this thing," Rebekah said where her wet hair was clinging to her as well as her clothing. She sloshed her way into the cave followed by the others. They began to zoom through the various passageways with vampire speed while Elena, Caroline and Bonnie huddled together for warmth.

"Ouch! I think I found it!" Rebekah pronounced and everyone hurried to her location where in fact she could not cross into the chamber before her. There were two men snoring loudly on a rock formation near the middle of the room sat a single gold ring. Elijah could make out the gold stone the color of a wolf's eyes in the setting. Everyone looked apprehensively at the two men – most likely werewolves.

"I'm going in," Bonnie said resolutely with a look that would shoot down anyone who dared to oppose her. She slipped effortlessly over the threshold and into the room. Elena held a hand over her mouth and dare not breathe. Elijah wrapped his arms around her almost instinctively. Klaus had a hold of Caroline as well ready to run them out of the cave vampire style if there was the slightest hint of trouble.

Slowly Bonnie crept over to the table and picked up the ring. The instant she touched it she knew it was the real one because she could feel the strength of the magic with which it had been imbued. At that very moment the two men sprang up and their attention turned to her in an instant. She ran for the door and beat them to the other side of the threshold and once Kol had a hold of her they all zoomed out of the cave.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

They hurried to mount their horses with the two men fast on their trails. As soon as they left the cave they realized two things: the rain had stopped and it had grown dark outside. The two men dropped to their knees as their transformations began and the originals seized the opportunity to nudge their horses into an all-out run.

"Can you seal an entrance?" Elijah asked Bonnie as they raced along.

"Only to keep everything out or in and not for very long – maybe three days at most," Bonnie replied. Elijah turned his horse and the others followed suit. After an hour they came upon another cave. They could hear the wolves coming fast behind them. They rode the horses into the entrance and then Bonnie closed her eyes as she began to chant. Kol cried out as she gripped him and his siblings looked on with worry.

"It's okay," Kol said, "I think she's borrowing some of the power I was born with."

"Then she picked the best one," Rebekah said as they watched hoping to see something that indicated a threshold. "Mother always said you had the strongest potential." They watched as an entire pack of wolves barreled towards their location. Klaus, Elijah and Rebekah moved towards the entrance ready to fight if they had to. Elena and Caroline watched as the wolves drew closer and closer and then suddenly ran into an invisible wall. The wolves went from full run to complete stop in the blink of an eye and the cries of pain and growls of anger still frightened the girls even though they were on the other side.

"Great they're trapped out there," Kol grinned.

"But we're trapped in here," Elena worried. "and some of us need something other than food to survive."

"We only have to stay in here until daylight comes. When they've changed back they're no match for our strength," Elijah said. Suddenly Caroline collapsed and only Klaus' quick movement prevented her from hitting the floor. He scooped her up into his arms cradling her unconscious body.

"Caroline!" he worried. Elena and Bonnie ran to their friend's side. Elena felt her forehead.

"She's burning up!"

"She's gotten sick – probably a cold," Bonnie worried.

"She just said she was burning up," Klaus worried, "and now you're saying she's cold! She's clearly not that!"

"Never mind it's not important," Bonnie shook her head. "What is important is that we need to get her temperature down." She looked around. "Is there any water in this cave?"

"Only what we brought," Rebekah said after a vampire-style survey.

"Then Klaus you'll have to do. You're at least cooler than she is right now," Bonnie said. "We need to get some of these layers off."

"Then my brothers should go," Rebekah said.

"No, we're desperate here – they stay," Bonnie ordered. She, Rebekah and Elena removed Caroline's riding gown and gown until only her under gown and undergarments remained. They settled her on a palate away from the fire. Klaus settled with her and wrapped his cooler body around hers.

"Now if she starts to have the shivers just keep holding her," Bonnie worried. "When I've had some rest I'll try to heal her. I haven't really tried anything like that yet though."

Everyone watched over Caroline as they had dinner. Kol took a turn holding her so Klaus could eat but Klaus didn't seem to like that too much Elijah noticed. Bonnie erected a second barrier just in case before everyone settled down for sleep. Elijah was propped against the wall near the mouth of the cave watching as the wolves paced angrily outside occasionally testing to see if the field was still holding.

"How are you doing?" Elena asked as she joined him.

"I'm fine. How are you?" he asked tenderly.

"You're not fine. You didn't feed this afternoon when the others did," Elena worried.

"I'll be okay Elena. You needn't worry. I give you my word that I will not harm you," Elijah said tenderly as he reached up to cup her cheek. He stared deeply into her eyes and saw acceptance there – acceptance of who and what he was. He also saw something else – dare he hope it might be love?

"I'm not worried about me. I'm worried about you. Please take my blood. I give it to you freely," she said tenderly.

"I couldn't Elena," Elijah worried. "I haven't drank straight from a human yet. Rebekah and Klaus did and they – they killed. I can't." He shook away the thought of even attempting such.

"You won't hurt me Elijah," Elena said fiercely. "The trick is in the heartbeat. It will change the second you've taken all I can safely give. So long as you stop then and give me your blood to heal me then I will be perfectly fine."

"Trust me," she entreated after he hesitated. "I give you my word."

He studied her for a long moment – at war with himself. Finally he sighed in defeat. He had lost his own inner war to hunger. He raised her delicate wrist to his lips but before he even got close he stopped.

"Which way works best for you?" he asked. "Is there a best way?"

"Why don't you just do whatever feels best to you," Elena offered.

"I will take that as permission," Elijah grinned and a moment later he leaned in and his lips were on hers. She sighed at the pleasure his mouth brought. She had never had a kiss better than Elijah's and she couldn't even chalk it up to a thousand years of practice. It just felt so magically perfect when she was with him like this. She didn't know why she just knew she wanted more.

As his lips left hers he kissed along her jaw to her ear and then down the side of her throat where her carotid artery was calling to him. He licked her skin and she moaned with the intimate pleasure. Suddenly she felt a quick pain as his fangs broke the surface of her skin but once he was feeding from her she felt herself being filled with pleasure. Her vision was becoming blurry so she closed her eyes and concentrated on the sensations instead. He was holding her so lovingly against him.

Her blood tasted so much sweeter than anything he'd had so far – much better than animal blood. It chilled him down to his very core to think that he may not have the willpower to stop when he needed to. He could hear the steady rhythm of her heart as he fed. Finally he heard it – a distinct change in the rhythm. Instantly he pulled back his need to protect the beautiful woman in his arms allowing him to overpower his bloodlust.

He smiled down at her tenderly. Her pupils were large and her eyes unfocused. She was smiling at him though.

"Are you okay?" he worried.

"I'm fine."

"Not yet my lady but you will be," he said tenderly as he slit open his wrist and held it to her lips. When she began to drink from him the connection just became that much stronger. His wound closed quickly but by that time Elena's eyes had regained their focus and her heartbeat was normal again.

"Thank you," he said sincerely.

VVVVVVVVVVVVVV

"Okay now that we have it what do we do with it?" Kol asked Bonnie where they had found their own space a little further back in the small cave. Bonnie reached into what looked like blank air and pulled out the ring a moment before putting it back.

"Now we get it back to Ayana so that it can be destroyed. You will all be safe and we will see you again I guess in a thousand years…or you will see us again or…I'm kind of confused but we'll go back and unless we really messed up you'll be there," Bonnie said. Kol smiled at her and then he leaned in and began kissing her again.

"I don't want to wait a thousand years to see you again," he growled.

"Well that's how it works."

"Bonnie if you have to go back I want you to promise me one thing before you go…"

"What Kol?"

"No I want you to give me your word – promise me that you will do it," he pleaded. He looked so sincere that Bonnie wanted to give him pretty much anything. This Kol was nothing like the one in the future. This one she had managed to fall for in only a week.

"Okay what is it," Bonnie smiled.

"Promise?"

"I promise now what do you need me to do so bad?"

"Marry me." Kol said with a big grin on his. "Marry me so my first love will always be you." Bonnie looked at him in total shock.


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

The next morning the entrance to the cave was still surrounded by a dozen men who were obviously intent on waiting the cave dwellers out.

"Let me at them I'll rip their throats out," Klaus growled with a grin as they stood back past the threshold. Caroline's fever had broken in the middle of the night with the help of Klaus' blood but she was still weak so he had her cradled in his arms.

"That won't be necessary," Bonnie said. "Kol – may I?" He nodded and she closed her eyes drawing on his latent energy and the energy of nature around her. Before their eyes all of the men fell to the ground. "They should sleep until night fall and by then we'll be long gone."

They mounted the horses and Bonnie dropped the barrier. They calmly passed the men lying about the cave entrance and then nudged the horses into a run headed towards home. By evening they couldn't smell a single wolf so they knew they were out of danger. They pitched shelter beside a pond again. Elena couldn't be certain but she thought perhaps it was the same pond they had encountered on their way up.

As dinner was being prepared Elena and Caroline were walking and enjoying the serenity of their surroundings.

"It's so beautiful here," Elena smiled.

"It is but I'll be glad to get back. I wouldn't want to live here."

"Even if it meant a lifetime with Klaus?" Elena asked gently. "This one who smiles a lot and plays with his brothers – who still remembers what it's like to trust unconditionally?" Caroline glanced over at where Kol, Klaus and Elijah were talking in the distance. Klaus looked over and his eyes met with Caroline's and he smiled.

"This one is so easy to love Elena," Caroline sighed happily.

"What are you two thick as thieves about over here?" Bonnie asked as she joined them.

"Love and Originals," Caroline smiled. "Of course I hear you're getting married."

Bonnie blushed, "In the 1100s Caroline we'll be going home soon remember – besides he made me promise. The way he was looking at me I would have given him the moon if I could."

"So you're giving him your heart?" Elena asked.

"I think I did that two nights ago," Bonnie sighed.

VVVVVVVVVVVV

"I'm going to miss all of this," Elena said after dinner where she was sitting beside the pond. She had removed her slippers and was dipping her toes in. "It's so beautiful here a different kind of beauty than it is in my time."

"Is that what you're going to miss?" Elijah asked. Elena's heart sped up and her eyes melted into his.

"No…I'm going to miss you and the way that you make me feel. Elijah I…I love you Elijah," Elena confessed.

"I love you too Elena and I know I'll see you again in a thousand years but I want to marry you in the here and now. Is there something preventing that?" he asked.

"No," Elena said. "You're not married."

"Are you?" Elena blushed.

"No I'm not married," she replied.

"Then if I'm going to rewrite a chunk of history let it be for the most important reason of all," Elijah grinned.

VVVVVVVVVVVV

In the end Klaus had persuaded Caroline with kisses. Under the moonlight beside the crystal clear water of the pond and surrounded by nature's majesty three couples stood opposite one another. In a clear voice Elijah recited the marriage ceremony as was the custom of their people. It was short and sweet but meaningful. The women each vowed to love, honor and cherish while the men vowed to provide for, protect and love always and forever. Each couple sealed the ceremony with a kiss and Bonnie had been asked to spell the rings that Elijah gave her which matched the originals. Rebekah stood up for all of them and she eagerly gave everyone a teary-eyed hug when it was over.


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

 _Present_

Out of all the people in the world for Rebekah Mikaelson to greet when she opened up the front door, she didn't expect it to be Alaric Saltzman and his ward Jeremy Gilbert. Standing aside, she allowed them to enter and as the two went over to the couch, they saw Klaus trying-and failing-to paint a picture of Caroline on a horse with him while Kol was reading an actual-no pictures of any kind-novel and Elijah was flipping through grimoires one after the other and grumbling about hating magic and a need to be with his mate.

"If you want to get the red just right-use blood," Rebekah told Klaus as she passed him. "Boys-we have guests."

"We thought you might know where Elena, Caroline Forbes or Bonnie Bennett were," Alaric began diplomatically. "It's been a couple of days since anyone has seen them and we're very worried.

Jeremy stepped right in front of Kol and began to yell at him as the fear for his two sisters-Elena and Caroline-and Bonnie hung onto him in a wave.

"WHERE ARE THEY YOU SICK MONSTER? DID YOU KIDNAP THEM AND STUFF THEM INTO BOXES BEFORE KILLING THEM?"

Kol grabbed Jeremy and with his extreme strength, he flung the both of them into the nearest wall that was located behind Rebekah. Kol ignored Klaus' moaning about repair bills and renovations (seriously, he needs a newer hobby than painting and renovating their house here in Mystic Falls). Getting into Jeremy's face, Kol yelled back.

"WHY WOULD I KILL THEM? I HAVE NO REASON TO DO THAT AND THERE IS NO WAY IN HELL THAT I WOULD HAVE KIDNAPPED THOSE THREE!"

Alaric, Elijah and Klaus were trying to calm down their younger members.

"Jeremy," Alaric cautioned. "Just breathe in and out-all this worry, anger and fear that's building inside you is making you forget the promise you made to me before we came here." He could see his ward slowly breathing, rather harshly, as he let go of Kol and Kol now knew why he was acting up and saying those things.

Worry.

He was worried for the girls and as Kol delicately sniffed him there were also the scents of fear and anger - at the thought of them being gone - hovering onto him. Letting him go, Kol shook his head and smiled weakly.

"They're going to be alright mate." He promised. The sounds of a book being thrown out the window made them look at Elijah who was pacing nervously around them and was ready to vamp out. Rebekah placed her hand on his forearm and was whispering something to him in a soothing tone as her eyes held worry when she turned to Klaus who was looking bloodthirstily at Jeremy and Alaric.

"You two idiots go and get some blood from the basement," she ordered while looking at Kol who gave her a discreet nod. "Kol and I can explain to them what is happening." No other words were said as the two eldest flashed into the basement to get blood to soothe their frazzled nerves.

Taking a deep breath and letting it out, Rebekah began to explain.

"An ancestor of Bonnie's that we knew back when we were human had given the girls a quest to get rid of this ring-I know, something out of a JRR Tolkien novel that had to do with evil rings and whatnot-but this ring was dangerous as it was crafted by our mother Esther and it was made for werewolves to wear." She closed her eyes and Kol took over the conversation.

"It turns out that the ring she crafted was as dangerous and deadly as it was beautiful. If a werewolf in human form were to wear the ring, they would be able to kill my entire family and everyone that is a part of our bloodline-Stefan and Damon are a part of Klaus' and a few witches who wanted to be changed are from mine and Rebekah's lines, Sage is a part of Finn's line and Elijah hasn't really changed anyone that we know of…" he looked at her and she nodded. "He hasn't ever changed anyone that we know of."

Jeremy seemed to pale. "Then the balance would be…" he couldn't even say the word but Alaric did.

"Shattered. Gone. Destroyed. Non-existing." He was rambling now as his face turned as white as a sheet. The two Originals nodded.

"The girls went back in time to change all of it and in the process, somehow became mated and married to my brothers."

"Mated?" Jeremy gasped with worry/

"Married?" Alaric groaned. How did they manage to get themselves married?

Now Jeremy sat down and looked weary before looking at him and asking, "Bonnie?"

"Bunny-yes," Kol answered bluntly. Alaric had a look of shock and horror on his face as he began wondering which psychotic Original his ward Elena ended up with and he looked ready to pass out. Rebekah seemed nervous as she saw the man look like he was having a panic attack.

"If Elijah were here, he'd tell you that his Elena will be fine and not to worry so much." She said softly as she patted Ric's arm. Now he had a slightly normal coloring to his face.

"Thank god it's him-I was worried that somehow fate made it out for her to be with Klaus." Silence before laughter bubbled forth from Jeremy, Rebekah and Kol as they thought of the two as a couple.

Kol ended up shouting, "Elijah-I think that Klaus has feelings for Elena!" You could hear two people downstairs fighting and more laughter spilled forth from Kol and Rebekah.

"Kol don't do that," Rebekah sighed. She looked to Alaric and Jeremy. "They woke up this morning like this. So whatever happened most recently in the past it changed everything last night because this morning they all woke up with the knowledge that they were married and mated. Vampire males are extremely protective of their mates. They'll do almost anything to keep them safe, happy and theirs."

"Any chance they're wrong?" Alaric asked hopefully.

"I'm very doubtful because I woke up remembering my part in the wedding as well," Rebekah smiled.

"Elena is married," Jeremy stammered in shock. "First she's missing, then she's in the 1100s on a quest and now she's married?"

"You got it mate," Kol grinned. "I can't believe the cheeky lasses did it but they were unforgettable. Bonnie was amazing – is amazing and I just can't wait for her to come back home."

Alaric ran his hand over his head. There was never going to be just a plain, boring ordinary day in his life. There hadn't been one since the day he met Elena Gilbert and the rest of her family. There was another crash downstairs.

"Later, much later and at his convenience I'd like to speak with Elijah," Alaric said and Rebekah nodded before she and Kol showed their guests out.

"You're cleaning everything up down there," Rebekah scolded Kol.

VVVVVVVVVVVVVV

It could have been hours later when Elijah, relatively normal looking in his usual three piece suit-an Armani grey one with a crème colored button up shirt-was sitting in Elena's living room with her father figure Alaric Saltzman after he returned from the kitchen with a large bottle of scotch and two drinking glasses.

The man was an enigma-he had been married to Isobel, Elena's birth mother and had dated Jenna Sommers, Elena's adopted aunt-and yet the man still lived with the two remaining Gilbert siblings. He came over to where Elijah was sitting on the couch with the bottle of scotch and two glasses.

"I'm going to need something stronger than scotch," Alaric sighed. "This is going to be one conversation that I need to try and black out."

Elijah nodded and went into the kitchen where he found a bottle of Jack Daniel's. Returning back to the living room, he showed the man the bottle and he nodded. Pouring Jack for Alaric and Scotch for himself into the glasses, Elijah settled into his seat. Alaric took a swig and enjoyed the burning sensation of the Jack Daniels.

"I want you to know that if you ever hurt her, I will place a dagger dipped in white oak ash into your chest and watch you in your sleep state." The vampire took a swig and nodded, once he felt the smooth warmth of the scotch going down his throat.

"You have my word that I will never hurt her." Elijah promised and he was going to keep that promise no matter what. It was as much a vow to Elena as it was to the man before him. He had awakened this morning with the knowledge that Elena Gilbert was his bride and his mate and he was going to be everything that she needed him to be. He had made promises to her and he was going to keep them.

"I hope that you know that Jeremy had wanted to walk her down the aisle. If there's anyone else you have to say sorry to for marrying her and not allowing her own brother to have the honor-it's Jeremy." Alaric groaned and stood up. "I have to tell Liz about her daughter's marriage to Klaus."

Elijah pitied his half brother more than he thought he would.

VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV

 _Somewhere in Miami, Florida_

Matt was asleep in the backseat of the car, Tyler was knocked out in the trunk of the car after he had gotten hopelessly lost in the Atlanta highway system and nearly wrecked the car and Damon was outside gassing up the car when Stefan received a call from Jeremy Gilbert.

"So what's new Jeremy? Any leads?"

 _"Yeah, they've been found but…"_

"But what? It can't be that bad." Stefan's mood brightened. They could deal with anything now that the girls had been found.

 _"They're in the 1100s with the Originals."_

"Did you…did you…" he couldn't comprehend what was being said until Jeremy's voice filtered through again and this time, he could hear loud dance music playing.

 _"Are you okay Stefan?"_

"Where are you?"

 _"I'm at The Grill and Kol Mikaelson just showed up-"_ he stopped when the phone went dead. Looking at his, Stefan saw that the battery died and had the urge to throw the phone but didn't.

"Come on we've got to keep searching for them," Damon hollered as he was getting back in the car at the gas station where they had stopped for gas and food. Damon was shoving a hot dog into his mouth while holding a large drink and food bag in the other hand.

"They've been found." Stefan sounded defeated about the whole thing.

"Then let's go get them!" Damon's positivity was going to go down at least sixty degrees when he finds out Stefan thought.

"Unless you know someone named Doc or Marty Mcfly we're out of luck. Jeremy says they're in the 1100s." The sigh that spilled from Stefan's lips was barely noticed as Damon nearly dropped the bag of food.

"They're WHAT?!" He roared, waking Matt up.

"What's wrong?" Matt asked still groggy.

"The girls are in the 1100s with the _Originals_." Damon seethed as he slid into the car and slammed the door shut.

Those with supernatural hearing ended up hearing Tyler groan. "Did you have to put me in the trunk?"


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

It was around five that afternoon when Kol Mikaelson entered The Grill to find Jeremy Gilbert sitting at the bar nursing what appeared to be nothing more than a soft drink and talking on his cellphone – with his vampire hearing Kol discerned the call was letting someone know the girls had been found. With a grin Kol took the seat next to Jeremy.

"I'm at The Grill and Kol Mikaelson just showed up," Jeremy said and then he looked at his phone screen a moment before returning the device to his pocket with a sigh. Kol quickly compelled two rum and cokes and when they arrived he nudged one in front of Jeremy.

"You're not going to get over it drinking what you are mate."

"How do you get over the fact that your sister went back in time with her two best friends and married the most dangerous brothers in history?" Jeremy growled but he took a long drink of the rum and coke anyhow.

"Well I'd celebrate with champagne but how about we start with a party," Kol grinned. The youngest MIkaelson motioned the manager over and having compelled him soon added the bartender and a DJ to the list. Jeremy watched in shock as the sound system began to pump out a bass-laden beat and the line at the bar began to stack up.

People began to pour into The Grill and soon some girls had climbed up onto the tables and began to dance. Kol – feeling unusually benevolent towards the younger Gilbert – pulled him into the throng of people dancing and spilling drinks.

"Great party," a beautiful brunette grinned at Kol. The off-the-market Mikaelson quickly maneuvered her into Jeremy's arms and a second later she was making out with him.

Several hours later Elijah and Klaus stopped by The Grill for a bite to eat (well – a bite of human food anyhow) Elijah had spent the afternoon trying to track down Jeremy Gilbert while Klaus had been trying to mete out punishment to Kol for this morning's incident. Ultimately Rebekah had shown them how to ping a cell phone and it had led them here.

Neither brother had been prepared for the sight that greeted them as they entered the restaurant. Kol was on the stage belting out a tune before a swathe of adoring fans as though he thought he was Mick Jagger. Jeremy Gilbert had a beautiful brunette pinned against a wall as he scored second base and a throng of other participants were dancing wildly and sloshing their drinks on the floor which was helping to fuel the four-deep crowd around the bar.

"Please tell me that everyone here is over the legal limit." The two elder Mikaelsons turned to see Sheriff Forbes had entered behind them and also couldn't believe the scene before her. She glared coldly at Klaus who gulped in fear of his mother-in-law.

"We just arrived," Elijah said in an attempt to maintain the peace. "If I had known that our brother was-"

"No, I see Jeremy Gilbert," Liz Forbes sighed, "I'll call Alaric to come down here." Elijah shook his head.

"No need-I'll take care of him and undo my brother's mess."

VVVVVVVVVVVVV

Jeremy groaned the next morning as the sunlight from the uncovered windows stung his eyes and a blaring headache began.

"You and Kol had one stupid night together," Jeremy wanted to sit up as fast as he possibly could as his brain vaguely recognized the voice speaking to him but because of his blaring headache and the pain in his eyes, he resorted to some sort of half groan sound fluttering out of his lips. "You need to take these and I have a pot of coffee brewing downstairs."

The boy managed a weak nod but as he sat up as slowly as he could, he saw that his rescuer was Elijah and he had given him a bottle of water and a few aspirin to take. Before he could, however, he just managed to untangle himself from the bed in time to race over to the bathroom where he emptied everything in his stomach.

That day, he vowed to never drink that much again.

VVVVVVVVVVVVVV

Kol was woken up by Klaus shouting right in his ear.

"DO YOU KNOW WHAT YOU BLOODY WELL DID!" Kol groaned and looked positively pitiful as he pulled the blankets back over his head only for Klaus to take them off again and pick him up to flash him into an ice cold shower which made Kol scream as loud as he could.

"YOU BLOODY PRICK! I SHOULD FIND SOMETHING TO SHOVE INTO YOUR STONE HEART!" Kol yelled.

Klaus was fearful but wouldn't let it show as he knew that his brother was quite capable of following through on his threats.

VVVVVVVVVVVVVVV

Jeremy managed to make it downstairs and Elijah passed over a cup of coffee-black-with everything he might need for it like sugar cubes, milk, something he found called 'Coffee Mate' and what not. Elijah was pleasantly surprised when Jeremy went straight for the cup and adding nothing to it, began to drink it with a pleased smile.

"I wanted to apologize to you," Elijah started. "I know that you had wanted to walk Elena down the aisle when she got married but instead I denied you that right."

Jeremy nodded. "You're right-you _did_ deny me that right but I'm not going to hold it against you. It'd be stupid to as this happened a thousand years ago but I'm not sure how Sheriff Forbes would take it if Klaus were to apologize to her."

"Nevertheless," Elijah continued as he ignored the thoughts of his hybrid brother nervous or even scared at the thought of the formidable woman. "I wanted you to know that I am deeply sorry for taking that right away from you and I will make it up to you one day."

"I'm counting on it." Jeremy gave him a mock soldier's salute before drinking more of his coffee. Wordlessly Elijah joined him.

VVVVVVVVVVVVVV

Kol ran at his brother once he exited the shower and was dressed in jeans and a t-shirt but before Kol could snap Klaus' neck, Klaus threw his younger brother into his room.

"Stay in there Kol!" Kol snorted but an idea came to him and when he flashed into his bathroom, he turned on the faucet and dialed a number. It rang three times before a female voice answered.

 _"Sheriff Forbes."_ When he didn't answer, she snapped out a question that reminded him of Caroline in the past. _"Who is this that I'm talking to?"_

"Sheriff, my name's Kol Mikaelson…" he started and smirked as he envisioned the trouble that his brother could find himself in as the son-in-law of a sheriff who stakes and shoots vampires.

VVVVVVVVVVVV

If there was anyone in the world who could make Klaus Mikaelson-the Original Hybrid himself-think that he was nothing more than a boy, then Elizabeth 'Liz' Forbes was at the top of the one-item list. The way she studied him and his habits was unnerving. He could see where Caroline got her hard headedness and her unnerving stare from as he watched her stare down Kol as she enforced the cleaning and repairs of The Grill that afternoon.

"I've heard of your track record," Liz said in an oddly even voice as she sat on a bar stool next to Klaus. "Damon told me _everything_."

 _The first thing to do when that idiot comes back to town is to kill him_ Klaus thought darkly.

"It is true that in the past I was a monster," he acknowledged. "I even believed that I was beyond redemption until I met Caroline who became _my everything_ in such a short amount of time. I fell in love with her. The last two people I had ever loved…well I realized that one would willingly give her heart away from person to person and the second one I lost to death…" he closed his eyes at the thought of his childhood crush who had drowned in a nearby stream when they were eight years of age. "After meeting Caroline, I knew that somehow fate had found my redemption in her and I will do whatever it takes to make her believe that I can be saved."

Liz had expected such a speech but still, she wasn't going to make this easy for him.

"Can you be saved?" Liz raised a brow.

"I want to be the husband she deserves to have," Klaus said sincerely.

"So you won't murder anyone for any reason whatsoever?" her voice was soft but you could hear the demand in it.

"I will only drink from blood bags," he promised her. "I promise you Sheriff, I won't be the man that I had been-drinking from humans and uncaring of whether or not they live. I will endeavor to deserve her."

She nodded and as she stood up, she glared at him.

"If you ever cause anything-even a _single tear_ to fall from her eyes-I will make sure that no one will ever find your body."


	13. Chapter 13

**(A/N: Thank you so much for the great reviews. We really enjoyed writing this. Please continue to review and we'll try to get some more of this posted)**

 **Chapter 13**

"Do you know what day it is?" Elena asked as she and Elijah walked around the pond.

"Do you?" Elijah teased.

"No I don't even know if you have the same type of date system that we do and I just wanted to know…"

"It's the 17th of June in the year of our lord 1115," Elijah replied.

"Thank you," Elena smiled and she committed the very special date to memory.

VVVVVVVVVVV

Klaus had walked Caroline a short distance from camp and spread out a blanket under the endless starry sky. As Caroline settled and adjusted her skirts Klaus pulled the hem down off one shoulder and leaned in to kiss her delicate skin there. She trembled at his hot lips against her alabaster skin. She felt his fingers working the lacings of her gown while his mouth laid tender kisses on her neck. Then he eased her down onto the blanket and his mouth met hers hungrily.

"Caroline you are like no woman I have ever known," he said sincerely. "I love you." Klaus Mikaelson had just confessed his love for her! Caroline buried her fingers in his long, golden locks and sealed his tender words with another fiery kiss.

"I love you Klaus." He kissed down her neck as his hand slipped under her loosened gown and caressed her breasts. She moaned with his attentions. If it was one thing he must have been born with it was the ability to please women – or at least Caroline. His mouth followed the exploration where his hand had led and his other hand slipped under the bottom of her skirts and worked its way up her thigh burning her as he went. His every touch set her on fire and ignited an electric current that was all centered deep within her – a fire that she was desperate to have quenched.

Soon his tongue in her mouth was echoing the movements of his body within her and he threw back his head in triumph as she cried out his name when she climaxed. He held her reverently – protectively – against him stroking her soft blonde tresses as she came back to earth. Now she was his wife in every way.

VVVVVVVVVVVVV

It was the middle of the night and Elijah opened one eye to watch the trails his new wife was drawing haphazardly on his chest.

"Don't you sleep at night?" he asked his voice husky from sleep. She had her head laid further down on his chest. He reached up and stroked her long, dark tresses smelling the rose water that Rebekah had helped her apply.

"Usually," Elena said with a soft smile. "I guess I'm just too wound up from finding what we were looking for and then fleeing the 'you know whats'…"

"Oh is that all?" Elijah asked and he helped her to resettle herself so she was closer. His mouth met hers for a long loving kiss and when he pulled back he reveled in the twinkle in her eyes. He had found love with a woman from a thousand years in the future. She was everything that he admired and desired in a woman. As he continued kissing her his hands undid the lacing of her gown. As he rolled her over onto her back he pulled the gown down and he hovered over her – admiring her form – before his mouth captured a delicate rosy nipple.

Her hands slipped under his shirt and soon it was over his head with his help. She couldn't stop staring at his muscular chest and imagining her Elijah from the present. She couldn't seem to reconcile the two images but she didn't need to. This was here and now and in a few days she would be back to there and then. This would all be a memory – one she would never forget.

She caressed his muscular chest and then as he moved to capture her mouth again she sank her hands into his luscious locks. He could put the man on the cover of every romance novel she had ever read to shame. She gasped as she felt him slip inside her and slowly he slid in deeper until he filled her and her eyes were filled with love and wonder as she looked at him.

"You are mine Elena – always and forever," Elijah whispered huskily. They climbed the mountain together and as they reached their climax Elena's world burst into the millions of stars overhead while Elijah held her tenderly, possessively in his arms. A few minutes later he smiled as she was finally back asleep.

VVVVVVVVVVVV

Dawn was barely breaking as Kol was kissing Bonnie gently. Finally she opened her eyes and smiled softly up at him.

"Is it morning already?" she whispered.

"Not quite but I just didn't want to wait any longer to tell you I love you my little witch."

"What did you just say?" Bonnie smiled.

"I love you."

"No, the other part."

"I called you my little witch," Kol smiled.

"Some things never change," Bonnie smiled. She leaned in and kissed him. The kiss turned from loving to hungry in the blink of an eye and breaking only for breath they were kissing once again. Bonnie slipped Kol's tunic over his head and had to pause to take in the toned muscle underneath – to think she was temporarily married to this undeniably sexy man! She was almost going to hate to go back home where Kol of the future used every opportunity to get on her nerves.

"Bonnie I want you for mine," Kol whispered against her ear and she trembled. She didn't even realize he'd unlaced her dress until she felt him easing it down and exposing her to him. As he eased her back onto the blanket he ran his fingers along the contour of her body starting at her chin and then down her throat, onto her chest and down towards her naval as she arched to ensure that even inch of her connected with those wandering fingers. His eyes were dark as he gazed at her and she could see the hunger within but this was a hunger only for her. Then his lips were on hers again and all rational thought fled.

His hand blazed a trail of exquisite pleasure up her thigh and his fingers slipped into her innermost space. She gasped as she felt the invasion and he smiled with satisfaction. He brought her to a climax and then when he was sure she was ready for him he carefully began to enter her. When he reached her barrier he smiled in triumph.

"You truly are _my_ little witch for the all of time," he whispered. Then he kissed her to help ease the momentary pain. When he was sure that she was ready her began to stoke the fire coiling deep within her again. Higher and higher the flames rose until at last they were both consumed.

"Kol!" She cried out his name as her world spiraled out of control but it was okay because she was safe in his arms and he would guard her heart, soul and body with his very being.

VVVVVVVVVVVVVV

They rode hard all the way to the village and straight to Ayana's hut.

"Do you have it?" she worried. Bonnie pulled it out of her invisible pouch. She tried to hand it to Ayana but the other witch would not take it. "Esther could use me." Bonnie nodded that she understood and Ayana handed her the spell that would destroy the ring. First Bonnie spelled a protection enchantment around Ayana and herself to keep them from being interrupted and then the two witches began to chant.

The spell was long and powerful. Kol became almost frantic when Bonnie's nose began to bleed. He couldn't get through the barrier however and the two witches continued on despite his protests. The ring began to levitate and glow as it revolved in mid-air. At first it was bright gold and then red hot before it finally became white hot. Finally the ring shattered into little dust fragments and then dissipated into nothing.

Bonnie passed out and the protection spell collapsed. Kol was at her side at once. Elijah began to worry about Elena's safety. He had no way of knowing what kind of a world he was sending her off to when she returned to the future. He had vowed to protect her. He nodded to Klaus and while the others were distracted with Bonnie Klaus took the box where he knew the last of their mother's spelled ingredients for making vampires rested.

Later that night Klaus slipped the blood into their food and everyone celebrated the fact that the quest was over. Once dinner was over and the last of the ingredients their mother had spelled was thoroughly in their wives systems Finn watched with shock on his face as Klaus, Kol and Elijah snapped the necks of the women they love. The door to their hut flew open and Ayana surveyed the scene in dismay.

"When I saw the herbs were missing I just knew," she dismayed. "This could change everything! There's only one thing I can do." Ayana began to chant and Kol, Klaus and Elijah watched helplessly as their new wives were ripped from their arms.

"What have you done?" Klaus growled angrily.

"The only thing left to do. I sent them back to their time and I just hope that a thousand years from now you're equipped to deal with the consequences."

VVVVVVVVVVV

 _Present_

Klaus knocked over his jar of paint in shock and red paint, glass shards and the brush scattered on the floor. Meanwhile Kol came down the stairs at vampire speed. He found his oldest living brother looking at the remains of his club glass and the book he'd been reading both lying on the floor.

"Elijah did you see it?" Kol worried. "We changed them?"

"That's what I saw," Klaus said as he joined him. The worried expression on his face looked out of place.

"I saw that too," Elijah worried. "I also saw Ayana send them back. That means they're out there somewhere and in transition."

VVVVVVVVVVV

Elena cried out in pain as she had tried to open her eyes and was blinded by whiteness and blurry images. She sprang to her feet and tried to look for the others but something went wrong. Her world blurred by and then she connected with something hard and landed on the ground with a thud. Her head was splitting open and the rest of her wasn't much better.

Bonnie moaned in pain and while Elena could hear her friend's distress as she felt around her with her hand she couldn't find Bonnie and she dare not open her eyes. Bonnie was reeling from the pain and what felt like feverish delirium. Everything sounded so loud.

"No one should have to go through this twice," Caroline Forbes groaned a ways away from Bonnie and Elena. She knew full-well what transition felt like and she was in the throes of it now but it was much worse than she remembered. Wait? Why was she in transition a second time? Did it have something to do with returning back to her time? She had been a human on the quest was she having to go through transition again because she had returned to a time when she was supposed to be a vampire?


	14. Chapter 14

**((A/N: Special shout to all of our very loyal fans. The reviews have been awesome and very much appreciated. This chapter is dedicated to Shydeep, KlarolineandKennettForever, Bulldozed88 and Siberia21, plus special guest Kay. This one's for you! Enjoy!))**

 **I'd also like to thank guest Kay, guest, Rising Phoenix-82, nekittem, Shydeep94, Fallen Witch Angel and guest with the username TeamElejah!**

 **Also, if you haven't noticed, in chapter one the movie watched about time traveling was a little bit foreshadowing of what they would do**

 **Chapter 14**

They asked Bonnie, Caroline and Elena to go back in time and destroy this ring that their mother had hidden from them all this time – a ring that endangered not only the original family but all of the vampire bloodlines. In yet another act of selflessness these three brave, young women went back in time a thousand years not knowing what perils awaited them.

In the course of a week Elijah and his brothers had wedded and bedded them but it was the final memory that had chilled Elijah.

"Do they have daylight rings?" Kol worried.

"They have the last of the Mikaelson rings," Elijah said. "Remember mother made us each a second ring. That matters little at the moment though. They are out in the afternoon sun, in the woods somewhere and in transition. They must surely be overwhelmed."

"If anything happens to Bonnie," Kol worried. Elijah pulled out his phone.

"What are you doing?" Klaus demanded.

"Calling a search party – the more people looking for them the faster we find them," Elijah answered.

If there was one thing Elijah and his two brothers hated, this was it-combing through the woods to find three transitioning vampires-their wives-and as Klaus went west and Kol went east, Elijah went north.

The Hybrid combed through the thickest brushes and looked up trees-he had even called out to her but there was no response from her. Climbing back down, he tried tracking her scent which made him run as fast as he could when he saw Rebekah and Stefan also doing the same thing.

"Who are you two looking for?" he called out to them, making the two vampires stare at him.

"I just met up with Rebekah and we're looking for any of them that we can find," Stefan said. "Tyler, Matt and Damon all spread out and I've lost track of them." Though once he had met up with Rebekah that had kind of been by design.

VVVVVVVVVVVVV

It was just fifteen minutes earlier that Stefan and the three morons-one he has to call his brother-had received Elijah's phone call for help searching the woods. The guys had made for the woods willing to help. Rebekah had stumbled upon him, her hair a rat's nest filled with leaves and twigs as she began to call out names.

"Rebekah?" she turned to see him flashing over towards her and she was panicked. He saw her worried expression and in an instant, covered her hand with his. His thumb rubbing soothing circles on the back of it near her knuckles and he smiled. "Everything will be fine."

"No it won't Stefan!" she nearly cried, allowing tears to fall from her eyes. Stefan was surprised to say the least by this sudden show of tender emotion. Was this part of what Alaric had tried to explain to him about the past altering the future? "It's not going to be fine! My sisters are out here somewhere in transition and I can't find them! I can't!"

"We'll look for them together then," he whispered into her hair as he kissed her forehead. "I promise you-we will find your sisters, help them with the transition and teach them what there is to know about being a vampire, okay?"

She nodded and they ran until they heard Klaus call out to them.

VVVVVVVVVVVVV

He could smell her peaches and lavender scent, near the stream where she and Elena had gathered the reeds for the baskets with Rebekah in the past. His eyes were wide as he saw her just sitting at the water's edge with tears streaming down her face as she must have been having her compelled memories returned to her yet again.

"Caroline?" Stefan called out to her in a tentative whisper. She looked at them and instead of going to him, she ran to Klaus who held her and called out, "I'VE GOT CAROLINE! OVER BY THE STREAM!"

He didn't see that both Stefan and Rebekah had left, Rebekah needing to find her other sisters. Klaus, with his super hearing due to his advanced state of immortality, could hear the sounds of vampires flashing and people running until he saw Elijah, Jeremy, Kol and surprisingly enough Alaric there. The sweat was beading down Alaric's forehead while Jeremy was doubled over and trying hard to breathe.

VVVVVVVVVVV

Elijah had combed miles of woodland looking for Caroline, Bonnie and Elena. He was beginning to worry that perhaps Ayana had sent them somewhere else entirely. What if they couldn't find them in time?

His fears were lessened when Klaus finally found Caroline. Elijah sped to their location and found his brother holding Caroline protectively against him. She was obviously weak and in pain. Kol appeared a moment later looking anxious.

"Any sign of Bonnie?"

"Caroline's the first one we've found," Elijah said.

"Over here!" Rebekah called out. She, Stefan and Jeremy were standing next to a tree where some of the bark had come loose.

"It's Elena's scent," Stefan said, "and it's fresh." Elijah inhaled deeply the scent that was uniquely Elena blended with rose water and the special blend of soap his sister used a thousand years ago. He laid a hand on Stefan and Jeremy's shoulders.

"Thank you"

"I'm not doing this for you," Jeremy glowered. "I'm doing it for her. We wouldn't be out here looking for them in the first place if you and your brothers hadn't decided to turn them and send them back in the middle of it! Marrying them was bad enough!"

"Jeremy none of this is helping us find Elena," Stefan interceded.

"If this is how he treats his wife I'd better find my sister before he kills her – oh wait he's already done that!" Kol appeared a moment later and casually laid his arm across Jeremy's shoulders – instantly making the younger Gilbert uncomfortable.

"Elijah already feels bad enough – in fact we all do but we can't change it. It happened a thousand years in the past. What you _can_ do right now is help me find Bonnie. You know her better than anyone out here." Jeremy spared one more look for Stefan and Elijah before he walked off. Elijah gave his brother a look of gratitude before he left with the younger Gilbert.

"You're thinking about the words you said to Damon when he pulled something like this," Stefan broke the silence as they were walking down a hillside at a human pace a while later.

"Forever, for a vampire, is a very long time," Elijah smirked with self-derision.

"Elena's different now," Stefan said, "different since she met you. Damon doesn't see it – probably would try to kill you again if he did – but I do. I think it's going to take a while but she will come around."

"In a century or two," Elijah sighed.

"Elena doesn't understand that kind of time yet Elijah," Stefan smiled encouragingly. "Congratulations by the way." Elijah looked to Stefan obviously confused.

"On your marriage - I did hear there was a wedding right?"

"Yes," Elijah said and then added a moment later, "I'm sorry Stefan – truly."

"I lost Elena the night I left with Klaus," Stefan confessed thoughtfully. "We just didn't know it yet. I've made my peace with it and I've moved on."

"With my sister," Elijah caught Stefan off guard. "I can smell her perfume on you. I'd keep my eyes open around Klaus if I were you."

"If we don't hurry up and find her none of this will matter," Elijah worried after a few minutes of silence.

"She's young and healthy. She should have at least another day."

"We didn't know how to turn people for a while after we were vampires. It happened to Kol on accident actually," Elijah reminisced until he noticed Stefan looking at him with confusion.

"We made originals Stefan."


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15**

"Three more originals," Stefan marveled after a moment.

"If I get to her in time," Elijah worried.

"You love her," Stefan stated it as the fact it was.

"She's my mate Stefan," Elijah confessed, "and yes I do. Aside from which I did this to her! Marrying her was one thing but this..."

"We're going to find her. Elena's a fighter – she'll never give up."

VVVVVVVVVVVVVVV

Bonnie had been crawling about blindly and in pain for what had to be hours now. She remembered destroying the ring but not much else. Something must have gone wrong! She had tried calling out for help in the beginning but the sound of her own voice was deafening. Had she been given some kind of drug? She felt feverish and the world looked wildly out of focus when she could make out anything at all.

Finally she bumped into something and as she opened her eyes she could make out what appeared to be a large boulder. She moved to sit against it putting herself mostly in shadow and she began to feel a little better. Bonnie had also discovered she couldn't get her magic to work. She was almost certain she was in the woods surrounding Mystic Falls but at this point all she could do was wait for help. She hoped it would come soon.

Jeremy and Kol had been following unusual tracks for a while now when finally Kol spotted a sight for sore eyes in the distance. He flashed forward at vampire speed leaving Jeremy to run along behind him. He stopped before Bonnie and dropped to his knees.

"Bonnie I found you," he whispered with great relief.

"Kol?" she sounded weak, "something's wrong. I can't see and I can't do magic."

"I know"

"Where are we?"

"In the woods outside Mystic Falls."

"Did I destroy the ring?"

"Yes and I'm so proud of you. Now let's get you home where I can help you feel better." He scooped her up into his arms as Jeremy finally reached them.

"Bonnie thank God," Jeremy said and he frowned as she winced in pain.

"Don't yell so loud!" Bonnie worried.

"She's not used to the new senses," Kol said gently.

"Well did you tell her?" Jeremy demanded.

"Tell me what?" Bonnie worried.

"This needs to wait Jeremy," Kol said. Bonnie had settled her head on his shoulder and a moment later Kol gasped in surprise as Bonnie bit him! She didn't have fangs yet so she couldn't break the skin but the impulse to go for his blood was obviously very much alive and kicking.

"Oh you want that do you?" Kol murmured with amusement.

"What's happening?" Bonnie frowned.

"You're in transition BonBon."

"Make it go away please," Bonnie groaned.

"Of course love," Kol smiled tenderly.

"Don't you dare!" Jeremy warned. "She's in pain. She doesn't know what she's saying or what she wants!"

"There's only two ways the pain ends now Jeremy," Kol reminded him. He double-checked for the Mikaelson ring on her finger and then despite Jeremy's continued protests he opened up the sweet spot on his neck. Bonnie hesitated for only a second and then buried her mouth against his neck. She pulled back a second later and cried out in pain as her fangs descended.

"Drink up love, you'll start to feel better," Kol encouraged tenderly. He smiled lovingly as he felt her fangs sink into his neck and as he rubbed her back gently he took off at vampire speed for their SUV leaving Jeremy in his wake. Once he had her safely inside and behind the tinted glass he relaxed and held her as she finished feeding.

VVVVVVVVVVVV

Elena was curled in the fetal position and beginning to wonder if this was literally hell and instead of fire and brimstone this was what you got. She had finally reached water and her feet were in it. Her slippers had fallen off somewhere, her gown was very likely dirty and her waist-length hair was probably a little tangled. She was grateful for the gentle cooling sensation of the water flowing around her ankles. She felt so weak and helpless – her body ached and her eyes and ears were bringing her nothing but pain. Mentally she called out for Elijah. He had been her savior for the last week and if ever she needed him it was now.

"Elijah, look, by the water," Stefan pointed in the distance and both flashed to the location with vampire speed. Elijah's heart seized in his chest at the sight of her - she was curled into a ball and had obviously been crying. On the other hand her hair was still long and she was still wearing the gown that he had married her in a thousand years ago. She was so beautiful like that.

"Elena," he whispered gently as he knelt down beside her.

"Elijah," she smiled for an instant before her face filled with worry. "Elijah I can't see and my head aches – everything aches."

"You're in transition Elena," Elijah whispered gently.

"This is awful – take it away please."

"Do you know what you're saying Elena? What you're asking?" Elijah asked tenderly where he cuddled her on his lap.

"I don't want to die," Elena whimpered.

"Shh…it's going to be okay Elena," Elijah said gently. He opened his wrist and offered her a taste. She made an awful face with the first taste and then put a hand to her mouth and began to cry as her fangs sprang forth.

"I know, I know…drink up darling and it will feel better," Elijah said tenderly and as he and Stefan raced back for the car Elena drank hesitantly from his neck.

VVVVVVVVVVVVVVV

The ride was quiet as the originals held their wives. In deference to the girl's conditions Klaus parked the SUV in the garage and they carefully carried the girls inside. Rebekah and Stefan had stayed behind to let everyone know the search was over. Once everyone had gathered they had all demanded to see the girls and so the entire group had headed for the Mikaelson mansion.

They placed the girls on the bed in Rebekah's room as it seemed like neutral territory. Elijah could tell they were still in shock and trying to piece everything together.

"What's the last thing you remember?" Elena asked.

"Riding back and arriving at Ayana's hut," Bonnie said.

"We destroyed the ring," Caroline said.

"I remember eating dinner..."Elena said. "How did we wind up in transition?"

Bonnie and Elena turned to the originals as they put the last of the pieces together.

"You were the only ones that knew how..." Bonnie glared at Kol. Elena hauled off and slapped Elijah and he let her.

"How could you?!" Bonnie yelled at Kol. "How could you do this to me? I'm a witch Kol. You know what it's like to lose your connection to nature!"

"And you preach how important choices are - how important your code of honor is - where was the honor in that?!" Elena yelled at Elijah.

"I understand you're angry," Elijah looked at the three furious new originals before him, "but you're angry with us a thousand years in the past. You're angry with our much younger selves. All we could do was watch as it unfolded - powerless to do anything about it whether we felt we should or not."

"Where the hell is she?"

"I want to see them!"

"Where's my sister?"

"What are they doing?" All these yells could be heard from downstairs. Upstairs in Rebekah's room the atmosphere had gone quiet as Elijah's point had spilled the wind from the girl's sails. They were angry with men they left a thousand years in the past but what did that leave for their future?


	16. Chapter 16

**Chapter 16**

While the boys tried to reel in emotions – theirs and their guests downstairs Rebekah watched the girls all still in their gowns with their hair to their waists.

"I had some sort of feelings for Stefan but then they faded as Damon compelled me." Caroline's voice was shaky at best and as she looked at her two best friends and their sister whose room they were all in, she told them everything. "He and I-while I was compelled-slept together and afterwards, he would use me as a blood bag and I hated it. I was a doll to him to use and throw out like yesterday's trash." Elena's eyes were narrowed.

"I knew that you had bite marks – nearly a dozen of them-I didn't know all of that! I had asked Stefan to take care of Damon and to help you get away from him." She looked around and as she found a letter opener, she grabbed it and made her way to the door.

Her emotions running rampant at an unusual high she wanted to end the Salvatore brother who caused her friend pain as much as he caused her pain. Rebekah, noticing what she was planning, stopped her.

"Murdering him will make you no better," she told her. "I know that what he did to Caroline was unfathomable but-" Elena cut her off.

"I met him first-the day that my parents died, I never knew before today. I met him at that stupid party that I ditched family game night for. He seemed really charming but he compelled it all away! He was there though and I met him and he could have-" she dropped the letter opener and fell to her knees, tears streaming down her face. "He could have saved my parents! The roads were slick with rain water and he knew it! He could have stopped them from driving too fast and it's also my fault for skipping out on family night for that party. He was right in the area with Stefan. He could have dove in and tried to save them!"

Rebekah didn't know what to do so she held her crying sister and began to rock her, her heart breaking. She looked at Bonnie who was torn between murderous anger for what Damon did to Caroline and sadness for what Elena believed was also her fault as much as she believed it was Damon's.

VVVVVVVVVVVVVV

There were few things that could make Elijah as angry and filled with murderous intent as Klaus and Kol. Elijah was always considered the noble brother and the one that was slow to anger but what he and his brothers had heard Elena and Caroline tell Rebekah about Damon's blatant use of compulsion all three flashed downstairs and Klaus had Stefan pinned to the wall and a dagger that he carried in his pocket at all times positioned at the vampire's throat.

"You allowed your brother to do those things to _my precious wife!_ " Klaus voice was a low whisper until he got louder with the 'wife' part. Stefan could see the looks of hatred in Klaus and Kol's eyes but as he looked at the original that he liked a little bit better, it still seemed off that Elijah had that look painted in his eyes.

"If you remember I couldn't exactly hold my own against my brother. I wasn't killing off innocent locals and calling attention to myself. I stopped him during a Founder's Party by spiking Caroline's drink with vervain. I knew that he would drink from her so when he did, I decided to lock him up. Unfortunately, he escaped." Stefan looked down. "If I had known how out of line he had been with Caroline, I would have stopped him sooner than I did."

Everyone who was in the room-Jeremy, Alaric, Tyler, Matt-all looked at the slightly moral Salvatore brother when Elijah stayed Klaus with a hand to his shoulder.

"Please brother-let this one live and when the other comes, _then_ you can kill him."

VVVVVVVVVVVV

"Come on I know you'll feel better after a bath and a change of clothes," Rebekah offered her new sisters a smile.

"I would love to get reacquainted with shampoo," Elena smiled. Rebekah went into her spacious en suite bathroom and ran Elena a bath in her gigantic tub complete with jets and its own water heater. When the bath was full she laid out a robe and made sure anything Elena might need or want was at hand before she herded Elena into the bathroom and left her to it.

Soon she had coaxed Caroline into Klaus' bathroom and Bonnie into Kol's shower but only after she had carefully brushed all the debris out of her hair.

"You men had better get online and order about five times more bath supplies than we normally get," Rebekah called downstairs as she walked along the landing to return to her room. Bonnie was the first to finish and she returned to Rebekah's room in the shorts and graphic tee that Rebekah had leant her. Her hair was in another long braid down her back.

"Feeling a little better?" Rebekah asked hopefully.

"Yeah," Bonnie smiled, "a little better."

Elena joined them next and she settled on the bed to begin combing her hair. She was having kind of a hard time of it when suddenly the comb was liberated from her hands.

"Please allow me," Elijah offered gently. "I used to do this for Rebekah when she was little." He repeated what he had said to her. She closed her eyes and relaxed as Elijah worked.

"Thank you," Elena replied. Right now she felt like she was functioning in a state of disbelief. She wasn't yet able to wrap her mind around the fact that she was now a vampire.

"How did you even know to come looking for us?" Elena asked.

"As soon as you went back in time we all began to get new memories of ourselves with you in the past," Rebekah said. "This morning we remembered Ayana sending you back while you were in transition and we knew we had to find you in a hurry." Elena frowned. How had they wound up in transition anyhow? There was only one family of vampires in existence at the time…

Elijah had finished combing her long hair and she turned around to look at him and Rebekah.

"Who turned me?" she demanded.

"Technically you weren't turned," Rebekah said. "We didn't know how yet. You were made."

"Made? Into a vampire?"

"Into an original," Rebekah clarified.

"I'm an original," Elena stammered, "and Bonnie and Caroline?"

"Yes"

"Who?" Elena asked and when Rebekah and Elijah didn't supply an answer, "who made me – sired me – whatever?"

"I did," Elijah replied evenly. He was beginning to feel the tight coil of tension forming within Elena as if it was his own. As soon as she had begun to take his blood into her earlier he had felt a connection to her – stronger than he had ever felt with anyone else. Kol had mentioned experiencing the same thing with Bonnie but he had decided it must have something to do with the fact that Bonnie was his mate because he'd never had a connection this strong to any of his other sires.

In all of his thousand years Elijah had only turned Elena so she was the only connection he had but had he hundreds she would be the only one that mattered because she was his wife and his mate. She looked at him for a long charged moment and then turned her attention to the doorway as Kol and Caroline appeared. Caroline giggled as she flounced on the bed and her hair sprawled about her.

"Okay no offense to the 1100s which were beautiful and all but I missed shampoo and blow-dryers. It's going to take a while to get used to it this long." She finished as she sat back up.

"You're leaving yours this long?" Bonnie marveled.

"I thought I might – at least for a while. I've always wanted it really long but never had the patience to let it grow that long," Caroline responded.

"I think I'm going to get mine cut back the way it was," Bonnie said. "This is too much work."

"Well it looks beautiful on you," Kol said. "How are you feeling?"

"I feel fine," Bonnie offered a small smile and uttered one of the worst phrases a new vampire could utter.

"What are you out for martyrdom?" Caroline groaned. "This is my second time through this – second time mind you and no one should have to endure that – and my head still aches and I could take on the world right now so no one had better mess with me. Speaking of which – I need blood." Caroline finished with a growl.

"We have a fabulous climate controlled room right off the kitchen so you can have it any way you want it," Rebekah smiled. "Come I'll show you. I don't know where Klaus has gotten off to."

Rebekah and Caroline flashed from the room leaving Kol, Elijah, Elena, Bonnie and uncomfortable silence.

"So do you remember everything from the past?" Bonnie asked.

"Yes, like it happened yesterday and a thousand years ago at the same time, my darling wife" Kol smiled. He reached for her hand in her lap and gently fingered her Mikaelson ring. Bonnie froze like a deer in headlights.

"That wasn't a real wedding," Bonnie barely got the words out of her fear-tightened throat.

"Oh yes, they very much were," Kol replied firmly.


	17. Chapter 17

**Chapter 17**

"I'm just eighteen," Bonnie yelped her panic rising. She backed away from Kol as he looked at her with hurt and confusion. "We were having a wonderful time and you were so different and when you made me promise I thought it was harmless because there wasn't anyone there to marry us."

"You were being insincere in your feelings for me?"

"No I fell in – it doesn't matter what I felt back then because here and now you and I are different people," Bonnie said and she tried to flash from the room only to miscalculate and hit the door. Finally she fled the room at a human run. Kol moved to go after her but Elijah stayed him with a hand.

"Give her a little space Kol – just make sure she doesn't leave. She's not ready for that yet," Elijah said. Elena yawned largely.

"You're ready for bed," Elijah said gently.

"I'm fine," Elena waved him off punctuating it with another yawn. He smiled indulgently at her and then scooped her up into his arms and carried her across the house to his suite at the other end. He opened the double doors to the spacious sitting room and then carried her through to the bedroom where a king-size bed with white tufted headboard loomed large. The whole suite's motif was black, white and grey. It was sleek and classical – much like the man himself. He settled her on the bed and her heart was racing – for a vampire that is.

"Relax Elena I mean to sleep with you – only sleep. When next I make love to you it will be because you asked me to," Elijah said, "but know this Elena. You are my mate and my wife. I meant every vow that I said to you and I didn't make them lightly." Elena trembled and he laid a gentle hand on her arm.

"You're probably going to wake hungry in the middle of the night. When you do please wake me, I want to help you through this – to teach you so that you don't have to suffer the way we did," he said tenderly. Elena nodded and settled under the covers.

VVVVVVVVVVVVV

"Bonnie?" Damon Salvatore gasped as he was the first one to see her come downstairs. He took in her waist length hair "You look a little different." In a flash Bonnie had pinned Damon against the nearest wall and finding an ink pen on the nearby table she stabbed him violently in the neck. When she stepped back from the bleeding elder Salvatore she turned to see Stefan, Tyler, Matt and Jeremy staring at her with shock.

She looked at them with horror spreading on her face and then she fled at vampire speed. Thankfully Stefan was right behind her and he wrapped his arms around her.

"Kol!" Stefan called and Kol appeared a moment later.

Stefan released Bonnie to him and she glared at Stefan.

"What happened?" Kol asked.

"Bonnie stabbed him with a pen," Stefan said evenly.

VVVVVVVVVVVVV

Stefan had wandered upstairs at a loss for what to do next when he peered through an open door and spotted Rebekah on her balcony with a sad smile on her face.

"Rebekah?" he called out to her. She looked at him and smiled. "Can we talk?"

"Sure," she said as she made a motion for him to join her on the balcony. "What did you want to talk about?"

"The journey the girls did," he was abrupt. "I want to know about it."

"Well you know about the objective. When they first got there they met Ayana who spelled them to fit in – hence the long hair."

"I had kind of wondered about that," Stefan grinned.

"Caroline discovered that she was human. Thankfully they met Elijah first then Nik and they were able to convince them that we had sent them." She looked and smiled. "We all came together really quickly. They were my friends-my only friends-and we had such fun together. My brothers fell in love with them after a week and married them." Now her eyes turned wistful. "It was beautiful and a part of me just wants to have what they do and I don't think that'll be in the cards for me just yet."

Turning around, she began to walk from him until she slipped on something she never thought she would slip on-her own feet!

She waited for the fall but it never came and as she looked up, her heart raced-for a vampire that is-as Stefan had caught her with his arms around her waist. Pulling her up, he kissed her lightly, tentatively, before smiling at her and walking away.

VVVVVVVVVVVVV

Klaus walked into the Red Room just off the kitchen where he surmised his sister must have taken Caroline. Caroline was still growling as she bit into a blood bag with a calmness that even Stefan Salvatore could never pull off. Klaus grinned lazily as he took in the sight of her from where he was leaned casually against the wall.

"Take a picture," she grumbled in between gulps of blood. "It'll last longer."

"I'd rather paint you." He added and smiled when she did, through the blood bag.


	18. Chapter 18

**Chapter 18**

Elena opened her eyes surprised to find it was still the middle of the night. She was hungry so she tiptoed downstairs and towards the spacious kitchen. She would say this for Klaus, he had built a beautiful house. She crept into the kitchen and began surveying the cabinets. Her usual go-to midnight snack was either ice cream or a bowl of cereal. This time she was feeling cereal – something to cool down the burn inside her.

"I thought I asked you to wake me when you got up," Elijah said gently. He watched as she stood on her tiptoes peering into another cabinet. She obviously didn't find what she was looking for because she moved to the next cabinet. Her frustration was growing.

"What are you looking for?" he asked.

"I just wanted some cereal. I'm a little hungry and I couldn't sleep. It's a silly habit but it's what I do at home," Elena said as she looked frantically through the next two cabinets. "I just need something to soothe this burning…"

"Cereal's not going to help that," Elijah said gently from just behind her. He did however reach into a cabinet and pull a box down. "That burning sensation is only calmed by blood Elena – you need blood." She leaned against the counter with her fingers gripping the edges tightly and then her saw it – the quick up and down of her shoulders as her body began to tremble. He advanced on her slowly, cautiously and then he pulled her from her death-grip on the counter and stared into her face. She was breaking, crumbling and he pulled her tenderly against his chest holding her as he moved to a kitchen chair. He settled her onto his lap and held her as she released everything within her against his shoulder.

She cried because she was confused, because she was dead and because she had lost herself. She cried for the normal life she would never have and for the life she did have but didn't yet understand. She cried because she had loved Stefan but had lost him before she'd let him go and she dried because Damon loved her but try though she might she could never love him the way he desired her to. In between the shudders and the sniffles she realized that she was crying in the arms of her husband – her husband at eighteen years of age – because she had traveled back a thousand years to save her friends and do her duty yet again and a young Elijah Mikaelson had stolen her heart.

A part of her wanted to scream that it didn't count – wasn't real – because she had been in another time but she knew those were only excuses because she had felt things for Elijah before she had gone. To be fair to herself however, they were two different men – the one in the 1100s was romantic and flirtatious. He had made every inch of her body come to life in that pond and the things that he said…

The Elijah Mikaelson of the future had been through a thousand years of hardship – some of it even at his family's hands. He was well-mannered, loyal and cherished his family but he no longer had an open heart. He had learned to live by Klaus' creed that love was a vampire's greatest weakness. It was a creed that Klaus seemed to exploit every time his older brother trusted him. This was the Mikaelson she was with now and yet – since she had returned things had seemed different. She couldn't really count on her own emotions right now however, because everything seemed grander than reality. She was proving that right now as she continued to sob against him.

"Elena? What's wrong with her?" Jeremy Gilbert worried as he came into the kitchen – drawn by his sister's cries.

"She discovered we don't have any milk," Elijah said gently as he stroked Elena's hair. She stopped crying a moment later, lifted her head and looked straight at Jeremy. Elijah tightened his grip on her. "Elena…you don't want to do this…"

Elena could smell Jeremy's unique scent and hear the rapid beating of his human heart. She could hear the blood pumping through his veins – calling to her with its staccato beat. His blood smelled so good.

Wait.

This was Jeremy.

Her brother whom she loved dearly.

Elena buried her head against Elijah again. He gently stroked her hair.

"Is she okay?" Jeremy worried.

"She will be but I need you to open that door right there and go into the Red room and bring back some Type A at 96 degrees. The drawers are labeled," Elijah instructed and Jeremy complied without hesitation. He returned a moment later with two bags and Elijah opened one and offered it to Elena. She shook her head.

"No thank you. I don't want…" she started but she closed her eyes and inhaled deeply. Instead of smelling awful as it usually did the blood was calling to her. She wanted it badly. "-not with Jeremy here I don't want him to see."

"Elena it's okay I promise," Jeremy said gently. "I've seen Caroline, Kol, Stefan and Damon do it before." Elijah offered the blood to her once more and this time Elena latched on hungrily. The tears started down her cheeks again but at least she was feeding.

"Jeremy?" Stefan Salvatore called softly as he slipped into the kitchen as well. "Elijah, Elena." He greeted as he took in the scene. Stefan raised a brow silently questioning if the situation was under control. At the original's nod Stefan took a seat at the table along with the others. Finally when Elena had finished both bags she checked to make sure her face was clean before she turned in Elijah's arms to face the others. He wondered if she realized she was still in his arms because she hadn't made any move to leave.

She spoke with Jeremy and Stefan for a little while before they all returned to bed. Elena had made Jeremy and Stefan promise they'd be there when she woke up.

VVVVVVVVVVVVVV

"No Stefan!" Damon nearly shouted at him as he paced the Mikaelson's living room. Apparently, no one was going to tell him how Elena was doing so he decided to make the Mikaelson's house his camp. "God only knows what they've done to her! Hell- _they_ _killed her_ so many times already and now she's all buddies with them? She needs to be at the boardinghouse with us and around people who _do_ truly care for her - you and me Stefan, not them."

"You don't have to buy it Damon," Stefan said while trying to calm him down from his position on the couch where he was writing in his journal about something and Damon could care less about it. "She's fine, safe and happy here with them-with _him_ -and they are the best at taking care of newborn vampires so they know what they are doing."

" _Do you even hear yourself_?" He raged. "Stefan-how many sacrifices has she been a part of and at the hands of who again? These people _ruined_ her life Stefan! From the moment that Elijah backed out of the deal-" Stefan cut him off.

"Did you forget that the only reason he did that was because of _you_ and Alaric daggering him?"

Damon waved that off. "It doesn't matter-he backed out of it! Then he says that he wants to kill Klaus but that was a lie and allows his brother to kill her and when he should have ripped his heart out, he doesn't!"

"Again," Stefan was growling at him now. "If Elijah had succeeded in killing Klaus-most of the vampires _sired_ by Klaus' bloodline would be _dead_ including you from that werewolf bite Tyler gave you."

"I'm not listening to you trying to defend them anymore!" Damon said passionately his voice raised an octave higher, nearly in a shout. "What you're saying is all from their damn compulsion!"

"It's not!" Stefan shouted. "I haven't been compelled and _no_ Damon, I know what I'm saying! Every last word!"

" _Klaus_ killed Jenna and now Elena's friends with him?" His expression showed just how outrageous this was sounding. "No-no, I am taking Elena _home!_ This is all nuts! She doesn't belong here at all."

"Damon don't!" Damon ignored him. "Don't do this! You are acting like a lunatic!" Damon didn't care and as he went straight into Elijah's room, he found Elena curled into Elijah, her face buried in his chest as she slept on her side.

Going over to her, he carefully scooped her up into his arms and walked down the stairs with her still asleep. He made it out the door but before he could even make it even towards the lawn, he could hear Elijah right behind him.

"I believe that you have someone who you shouldn't have at the moment so if you would please hand her over, I'll ignore this little… _mistake_." Elijah had a cold voice and as Damon turned, the look in his eyes was as cold as his voice.

"I don't think-" was all Damon managed to get out when Rebekah appeared behind him and snapped his neck. Elijah scooped Elena from the falling vampire's arms and breathed a sigh of relief that she was still asleep. Placing a kiss on her lips, he smiled and went back inside with his wife happily asleep in his arms.


	19. Chapter 19

**Chapter 19**

"Kol-I'm _fine_ ," Bonnie stressed out the word two days later and dragged Matt to his truck. "I swear-I'm fine!" For two days they had been at the Mikaelson mansion. The girls had agreed to stay at the mansion tentatively while they tried to adapt to their new life. Things were still strained between the originals and the girls who were trying to reconcile their whirlwind trip to the past with their future. Today Bonnie had decided she might as well move some things from her house. Kol had offered to go with her but Bonnie had devised a plan to take Matt instead and Matt had reluctantly agreed.

Kol had a great reason to be worried after all-she was still so new and the bloodlust would probably make her go crazy with the need but as she gave him a look that said that she was going to be fine, he allowed her to go but not without shadowing her every move.

Bonnie never knew and neither did Matt.

As soon as she entered her house, she found things that she wanted and started to pack them with Matt's help. She packed up her clothes and some photos – mementos of the life she used to have. Matt was packing the last of the things when he got a paper cut on his middle finger.

Bonnie stopped and looked at it, transfixed. Her eyes darkened as she took in the beautiful bright red color of the life force rising from the rupture. Matt looked at the small cut with rising fear when he saw that her veins were coming.

"Bonnie…" was all Matt got out as she held him against the wall and tried to bite him only for her to be pulled off by Kol. Looking over at Stefan who had shadowed him, he nodded and the younger Salvatore flashed Matt away from Bonnie.

The new Original sank to her knees and started to sob as she realized that she tried to kill Matt of all people! Kol was torn as he watched her go through this. He dropped to his knees beside her and wrapped his arms around her. Instead of fighting him and pulling away she buried herself against him and cried.

Kol had turned several vampires in his thousand years and he had never cared enough to stay with them beyond the basics. He had never been invested in their well-being. Bonnie was different. He had fallen in love with her in his impetuous youth and had refused to part with her. This was all his doing – his fault. He was to blame for what she was going through right now but he vowed that he was going to be with her through every moment of it until she came out on the other side. No matter how long it took.

"Shhh…it's okay love. He's okay and you will be too," Kol whispered against her head.

"I wanted to bite him! I would have bitten him and we've been friends since grade school!" she cried.

"Bite me if it makes you feel better," Kol offered. "It will bring down the craving – the lust." Bonnie dried her eyes a few moments later and then moved from his arms to rise.

"Thank you," Bonnie nodded. "I think that's everything I'm going to want."

"The rest will still be here if you change your mind," Kol said as he lifted the two boxes. He walked with her outside and settled them in the trunk of his BMW 528i. Then he opened the passenger side door for her. She was staring at him as he climbed into the driver's seat but as he looked to her she returned her gaze straight ahead.

VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV

"I married you a thousand years in the past Elijah," Elena sighed where he had stopped her intending to kiss her in the hallway and she had pulled back from him.

"At least you're not denying it," Elijah stated.

"No, but Elijah it feels like two different people. Can't you see?" Elena pleaded softly. "It was like meeting your alter-ego. I knew when I met you back then that you were different from you now."

"Not entirely"

"No not entirely"

"Yet you admit that you married me in the past – loved me in the past. What is so different now?"

"I know you differently here Elijah," Elena sighed, "we weren't – aren't – like that. We didn't have that kind of relationship." Elena was doing better at learning control but her emotions were still at an all-time high and she couldn't handle this. She walked down the hall and into the living room.

"If he's bothering you again Elena let's leave," Damon offered. "You'll be just fine at the boarding house. Stefan and I have looked after new sires before. What is his problem anyhow? I've never seen Elijah so possessive before. He's usually the least crazy of the lot – "

"He's her husband," Jeremy exploded, "they're married okay? That's why he's hovering over her. He's showing concern as he ought to be!"

It took little time after Jeremy's shout that she was married when Damon looked at both Caroline and Bonnie with a questioning glance.

"You two didn't stop her from doing something so stupid?" Caroline glared at him but it was Klaus who beat Bonnie to the actual talk.

"The three lovely ladies married not just Elijah but myself and Kol as well and it was the same day." To prove his point, he grabbed Caroline by the waist and held her close while Kol did the same to Bonnie.

Damon glared. It hurt him inside that Elena had chosen to be with Elijah instead of him and lashed out.

"THOSE WEREN'T REAL MARRIAGES!" He shouted in anger and uncaring about anyone and anything. "They weren't _real_ as they had no one presiding over it!"

"A thousand years ago they were real," Rebekah snipped at him in distaste. "A thousand years ago they were _real and binding_ -just like those marriages are still intact nowadays so just _get over yourself!_ "

Damon glowered at her and looked ready to kill her until he saw Stefan slowly appear beside her, ready to defend her against him.

"Sorry to disappoint you Barbie Klaus-they _weren't real and binding!_ " With his peace said, he flashed away and found himself outside of the Grill where Katherine Pierce was waiting for him.

"Having girl troubles?" she purred out in a seductive whisper. He glared at her and kissed her before flashing her to the boardinghouse.

"You're mine," he growled and bit into her collar bone to prove his point.

VVVVVVVVVVVVVV

Once Damon had left, Jeremy went over to his sister and sat with her on the couch.

"Hey-sorry for outing that," he whispered ashamed of his actions. "I was just so angry and saw red-I didn't…" he couldn't finish but she smiled at him and patted his hand.

"It was bound to be said sooner or later," she told him with a kiss on his forehead. "I promise that I'm not angry with you."

Nodding, he went off to go back home when his phone rang. Looking at the caller id, he smiled. Answering it, the smile never left his face.

"Hey Angeline." Angeline Nikolaev was the new girl in town and was Bulgarian and French with dark hair.

"Jeremy," she sounded happy. "I was hoping to talk to you and I hope that you're not avoiding me for my behavior at the party."

"If anything-I should apologize to you." He told her and she laughed.

"No need to apologize," she was sincere in her voice. "I was-" she was cut off by him.

"Do you want to grab a pizza later on today?" he hoped that she would say yes and his prayer was answered.

"I would love that. Pizza and a movie at my place or yours?"

"Mine. I'll pick you up okay?"

"I'll be waiting." She hung up and he smiled.

Things were looking up for him.


	20. Chapter 20

**(A/N: Thank you so much for all the reviews! We're so glad that you're enjoying it and thanks for sticking with us this far.)**

 **Chapter 20**

Elijah, after Damon's temper tantrum and obvious running from his problems, decided to walk around the garden for some fresh air and perspective. What can he do to make Elena believe him when he says that he loves her as well as prove to her that he can be an amazing husband to her? His perfect vampire memory allowed him to relive with perfect clarity the way she had looked at him, the way she had blushed in his arms and how fast her heart had beat when he'd teased her with his affections. She had loved him enough to marry him and he knew with everything in him that she had not taken it lightly. She may not have imagined that his future self would honor it but right in that moment she had wanted to bind herself to him.

How could he make her see that the man she had fallen in love with was still inside him? Then a thought occurred to him – they were going about this the wrong way. They may be married to the girls but they had never courted them. That was usually the stage of the relationship where the couple got to know one another. He needed to sweep her off her feet and appeal to her romantic side.

VVVVVVVVVVVVV

"We need to win their hearts again if they're going to be in love with us like we want," Elijah told Klaus and Kol over drinks. "We knew all this was coming. They fell in love with our - shall we say - unburdened counterparts and now they no longer believe that we are those men. We simply have to sweep them off their feet again?"

"What's this about pretending to drown and a bar of soap in a pond under the moonlight," Kol grinned cheekily. "I think I want to use that one."

"That one is entirely out of your league," Elijah smirked. "Of course I hear on a blanket under the stars worked out just fine."

Kol left his two older brothers to check on Bonnie and Klaus brought Elijah bourbon before settling in the chair next to him with a smirk of his own.

"So what is this about a pond and a bar of soap in the moonlight?" Klaus grinned. Elijah raised his glass in silent salute.

"Just use your imagination and it still wouldn't be good enough."

VVVVVVVVVVVV

The next day Kol found Bonnie sitting in the garden enjoying the weather. She had on black shorts and a sleeveless bright yellow top.

"Bonnie would you come with me please? I thought we might do something together this afternoon."

"What?"

"It's a surprise," Kol grinned.

"Please tell me it's not more vampire training. I promise I heard you before you got here and I could identify you by scent."

"I promise it has nothing to do with vampire training."

"Then I'm in." She followed him to his car and a short while later they were at the local sports complex. Kol rented a batting cage.

"Oh you have got the wrong girl…I am no good at this," Bonnie giggled. Kol led her meekly into the cage anyhow.

"I'm going to teach you." He helped her to get into place and then started the machine. She completely missed the first two. Then he wrapped his body around hers helping her to adopt a proper stance. She missed the third and fourth balls because Kol was touching her and every inch of her body that was touching his had just sprung to life. The fifth ball she connected with and she squealed with satisfaction.

Kol smiled as he helped her to hit the balls and enjoyed her enthusiasm. Afterwards they each got a hot dog and went for a walk.

"Thanks, this has been a lot of fun. It's been really nice not to have to think about everything for a while," Bonnie smiled. She looked over to Kol and noticed he had some mustard by the corner of his mouth.

"You've got a little…" she reached up her finger to brush it away and he grabbed her wrist as he took her finger into his mouth and sucked. She gasped at the sensations and her eyes were locked with his.

"Thank you," he smiled easily as he released her wrist. She felt instantly bereft. As they walked back to the car he reached over and threaded his fingers with hers. She didn't make any move to pull away.

"Thanks for a fantastic afternoon," Bonnie smiled as they returned to the house. "I had a really great time."

"Me too," Kol smiled. As he opened her side of the car and helped her out he leaned her back against the car and then moved in slowly giving her time to turn away if she chose. When she didn't move he gently pressed his lips against hers in a gentle kiss. Bonnie was smiling the rest of the afternoon.


	21. Chapter 21

**(A/N: Thanks again for the reviews! Keep 'em coming!)**

 **Chapter 21**

"He didn't say anything about where you were going?" Elena asked as she and Bonnie were sitting in with Caroline helping her get ready.

"No just this box with this gown and a card that asked me to be ready at eight," Caroline smiled. The box had contained a beautiful, white, sleeveless gown with a jeweled empire waistband and a-line skirt of shimmery chiffon. Elena and Rebekah had managed to get her hair into a beautiful updo with delicately placed curls some pinned to look as if they are artfully escaping the coif. She was wearing the bracelet that he had given her for the Mikaelson ball as well.

"I hope you have a really good time tonight," Bonnie smiled.

Klaus walked Caroline out to the driveway of the mansion.

"What are we doing out here?" she asked and he grinned. Right on cue, a beautiful carriage that looked like something out of Cinderella appeared with four white horses. "Oh my god!" Opening the door for her, he helped her in first.

"Your carriage awaits Princess." Kissing her cheek, he grinned. "Don't worry-the driver is your friend Matt." She laughed and smiled at him as the carriage pulled to a start and he put his arm around her to steady her.

"What's your favorite color?" she asked as they rode along. He thought for a moment before smiling at her.

"Blue because of your eyes." She blushed as he asked her, "What's yours love?"

"Amber." She looked and smiled. "For your eyes."

They made some small talk until the carriage stopped and Caroline realized they were at the town square only all the trees were lit up with clear lights and the gazebo in the center was also lit in clear lights. Klaus helped her down from the carriage and walked her to the gazebo. He extended his hand to help her up the steps.

"May I have this dance?" he asked. Caroline smiled.

"There's no music but sure…" As she came into his arms suddenly there was a beautiful waltz being played and Caroline looked out the gazebo to see a string quartet. They played beautiful waltzes for about an hour as Caroline twirled about in Klaus' arms.

"I love the way you dance," he said. "You're so graceful and yet powerful at the same time. You're the same way in life Caroline. It's one of the things I love about you." His words sent shimmers of pleasure through her and Klaus' smile told her he knew just what kind of effect he was having on her.

After about an hour they returned to the carriage and it drove around Mystic Falls a little more before returning to the mansion. As they were approaching the drive he leaned in and kissed her on the lips lightly. Pulling back, he pressed his lips to the corner of her mouth.

"I promise you Caroline Forbes that I will be the best that I can ever possibly be for you."

She had tears in her eyes. "I believe you."

VVVVVVVVVVVVVVV

"Okay here it comes," Stefan said as he appeared carrying two plates. Rebekah sat the accompanying wine glasses in their place and they settled on pillows on the floor in front of the couch with their dinner on the coffee table in front of them.

"It smells fantastic," Rebekah enthused as she inhaled the wonderful smell of Chicken Marsala. As they started eating the movie began. It was an old romantic comedy starring Fred Astaire and Ginger Rodgers. When the meal had finished Rebekah laid her head casually against his shoulder and soon his arm wrapped around her and he pulled her close.

"You feel good in my arms Rebekah," he whispered gently against her ear. Rebekah's insides thrilled with excitement. Maybe love had found her after all.


	22. Chapter 22

**Chapter 22**

Jeremy having decided that he wanted to make all of this work for Elena – because he wanted his sister's happiness – had decided that the original brothers needed a 'bachelor party' as they'd not had one. Eventually he had managed to get Matt on board and by Friday night he had organized a real party.

They had rented out the Grill for Friday night and it was packed to the brim with vampires and humans. Klaus and Kol had gotten on board with the idea as soon as they had heard the word 'party'.

Elijah hadn't wanted to do this but his Elena had said that it was 'tradition for guys to do guy stuff like go to strip clubs' or something insane so here they were-at the Mystic Grill as those who were invited were still underage. The stereos were blasting and at the bar the Salvatore brothers were flanking a curly haired brunette who placed her finger in her margarita and started stirring it.

"You could have helped Rebekah at the mansion," Elijah said to Stefan realizing the younger Salvatore was about as thrilled to be there as he was.

"Rebekah demanded that I follow tradition. I think she got it from Elena," Stefan sighed. "I made her promise to call if anything got out of hand…"

"I'm less worried about them," Elijah said as he and Stefan grabbed a glass of bourbon each and settled to take it all in.

Kol and Jeremy very quickly decided to do body shots while Klaus decided to man the bar. It wouldn't have been so bad except his policy was apparently serve one – drink one. Elijah knew Kol was officially intoxicated when he started singing along with the songs. That had been his tell for a very long time. Jeremy and Klaus started joking and high-fiving one another and Elijah knew the young Gilbert boy was definitely drunk.

After a while Klaus got bored with the status quo and decided the party needed livening up. "We've got a stripper here!" Klaus shouted while his glazed eyes focused on Katherine. "Take it all off love!"

Katherine looked and thinking that everyone here believed her to be Elena, tried her hand. Standing up on the table, she began to sway to the music and peeling off her jacket, she went to undo her shirt when she heard Elijah groan.

"Damon, tell your lover not to strip for any of us." She turned her body to look at him and as she began to look like she was climbing down the bar, she sat on her knees and gave him her patented Elena look.

"Elijah? Don't you want me to show you that I'm not nearly as boring-" she got out when Elijah had a hand around her throat.

"Don't play that Katerina. _You can never be Elena!_ " turning to Damon, he snarled. "Get her out of here now or I will _kill her_. Understand?"

"Geeze-fine," Damon snarked at him, with a glare. "I'll take Katherine home to your _wife_ and see if anyone there could tell the difference."

Stefan had to intercept the two. "Damon, just take Katherine back to the boardinghouse and leave Elena out of this."

"Wait- _you married Elena_!" Katherine was looking at Elijah and shrugged. "I guess that you couldn't have the first one and then me-" before she could even continue, Stefan had the good grace to flash Damon away from the volatile Original while Kol reseated Katerina at the bar and compelled her to order whatever drink she wants and to 'keep them coming'.

Matt had just started teaching Klaus the flair of bartending – flipping the bottles and such as well as how to make great drinks when Liz walked in.

"I was told to tell you all to keep the noise down." She ordered though what Klaus said made her beet red in anger and Elijah bemoan the fact that his brother is the world's biggest idiot.

"We've got another stripper here! Officer Sweet Love has arrived!" Saluting her, he grins. "Take it all off love!" Liz stormed right up to him and placed the handcuffs around his wrists with gusto. That was how the bachelor party officially started winding down. Klaus was hauled out the door and down to the station where he could sleep it off in the drunk tank.

VVVVVVVVVVVVVVV

Meanwhile at the Mikaelson mansion the girls had decided it was probably best if they didn't go out since they were still rather new at the whole 'controlling the bloodlust' thing. They decided to make it a sleepover and they had gone the seafood delivery, fine wine and movies route. They had eaten lobster and wine by candlelight on the floor while they watched _Mamma Mia_.

They had enjoyed it so much that they had promptly put the included soundtrack in the sound system and started singing along. That was how Elijah, Kol and Stefan had found them. As they entered the front door of the mansion they heard Bonnie belt out:

 _Honey honey, how he thrills me, ah hah, honey honey  
Honey honey, nearly kills me, ah hah, honey honey  
I'd heard about him before, I wanted to know some more  
And now I know what they mean, he's a love machine  
Oh, he makes me dizzy_

Kol, Elijah and Stefan crept towards the living room. Moments later Elena took over:

 _Honey honey, let me feel it, ah hah, honey honey  
Honey honey, don't conceal it, ah hah, honey honey  
The way that you kiss goodnight_  
Rebekah, Caroline and Bonnie chimed in: _(The way that you kiss me goodnight)_  
 _The way that you hold me tight  
(The way that you're holding me tight)  
I feel like I wanna sing when you do your thing_

The girls were about to start the song over again when they noticed they weren't alone.

"How was the bachelor party?" Elena asked and surprising both of them she gave Elijah a kiss.

"Where's Klaus?" Caroline worried.

"In the slammer," Kol said. "I've always wanted to say that!"

"Seriously where is Klaus?" Rebekah asked.

"He got arrested," Elijah replied. "He was pulling a drunk and disorderly and probably could have gotten away with a warning but your mother showed up and…"

"What did she do?" Caroline was beginning to grow angry.

\ "She detained him after he accused her of being the evening's entertainment and asked her to remove her clothing," Elijah finished – clearly uncomfortable. It took only a moment before Caroline exploded.

"He accused my mother of being a stripper!"

"Did you really have strippers?" Bonnie frowned at Kol.

"There weren't any strippers," Stefan declared wanting to nip that argument in the bud.

"He can just stay in there until he's sober," Caroline fumed.

"You married him," Kol grinned at her. He never saw the empty wine bottle coming.

VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV

He had been in this room all night with nothing but three cinderblock walls and some bars to stare at. The monotony was suddenly broken as the door at the end of the hall opened and his avenging angel appeared. Her nude wedge heels clicked on the floor - echoing down the hall and her navy dress outlined every luscious curve. What had he managed to do right to be married to her? With a wolfish grin he stood and walked to the bars of his cell.

"Caroline" he greeted her with that same lust-filled smile.

"Don't Caroline me - you called my mother a stripper! Officer Sweet Love?" Caroline yelled with righteous indignation. Klaus had the decency to look ashamed of his actions.

"I was drunk love."

"That's not an excuse," Caroline pouted.

"No, not really and I'm sorry," Klaus said. Caroline's eyes widened.

"What did you say?"

"I said I'm sorry."

"You look like the naughty man you are back there," Caroline smirked suddenly, "maybe I should just leave you in there."

"Does the idea of conjugal visits excite you Caroline?" Klaus grinned leaning closer to the bars. She reached through and grabbed the collar of his shirt.

"Not particularly so you'd better not ever do anything like this again!"


	23. Chapter 23

**Chapter 23**

After the bachelor party last night Damon was more determined than ever to put an end to the sham marriages the originals thought they could enforce on Bonnie, Caroline and Elena. Damon smirked as he had the greatest plan ever. He made his way to the Mikaelson mansion to visit Bonnie, Elena and Caroline he saw how tight-lipped they were about what was really going on and decided the best way to get them to open up was to get them drunk.

Where? Simple the answer was at the boardinghouse as he and his brother had the better alcohol there then at The Grill. Plus there was no chance that someone would interfere. All he needed to do was get them some place where they could speak freely and they would realize their mistakes.

"Ladies," he called to them with a smirk. "How would you all like to go to the boardinghouse while we wait for Stefan to come home from his business trip? I know he'll want to know how everything is going for you."

"I don't know…" Bonnie began until Caroline nodded.

"I'll go."

The girls' reservations had been silenced with an entire bottle of whisky, some scotch a little rum and some vodka. Then they had gotten into the good stuff. Damon had turned on some good dance music and the girls had really gotten into the party mood. Damon had taken off his shirt.

"Okay we need to work up a plan now that I've got you here without your minders," Damon grinned. "You're all still so young and now that you're well some bad a** vampires you've got centuries of partying ahead of you. You don't want to be tied down to those maniacal misanthropes."

"Damon how many times do we have to tell you? We're in love with our husbands," Caroline said.

"You're in love with the man that killed Elena's aunt?" Damon looked to Caroline.

"And you, you're in love with the man that beat Elena's brother?" he looked to Bonnie.

"And you, Elena – If you even think Elijah Mikaelson is capable of loving you - " Damon began but before he could finish Elena's still untamed emotions got the better of her and she snapped his neck.

"I can't believe he said that!" Caroline scoffed before she washed her comment down with a swig of bourbon.

When Stefan and Rebekah returned to the boardinghouse they were shocked to find the music blaring. Caroline was mainlining to kill on the dining room table while Bonnie was belting out a tune on the bar – incidentally not what was actually playing – and Elena was on the end table behind the couch working up to a strip tease.

"They're going to kill us," Rebekah worried as she took in the very intoxicated new originals.

"You stay here with them – make sure they don't get out and I'll get your brothers." He told her before flashing away.

Rebekah went over and grabbed two bottles before saying, "more drinks?" She was going to be inebriated before she faced her brothers.

VVVVVVVVVVVVVVV

"Trouble in paradise?" Klaus asked with a smirk when he went into Elijah's room and saw his brother searching the closet only to slam the door shut. The only living elder brother glared at him.

"She's missing." Those two words sent Klaus looking for his own wife only to discover that she, too, was gone.

"Where are they?" Klaus worried.

"I'm going to slaughter Katherine if she has her." Elijah snarled once he tossed his bookcase to the ground.

"When I find out who took them…" he let the threat hang even as Kol reported Bonnie had gone missing.

"They will wish for death!" Kol seethed. He had his baseball bat ready and he was going to use it on people.

"You don't have far to look," the three turned to see Stefan there with an amused smirk on his face. "I know who took them and where they are."

VVVVVVVVVVVVVVV

"I found them like this," Stefan said as he opened the door to the boarding house and the three original brothers flashed inside and then came full stop as they took in the scene before them.

Caroline was dancing on the table in the Salvatore's dining room with Rebekah who was holding a bottle of wine in one hand and a bottle of whiskey in the other. They were performing dance moves that were usually reserved for music videos. Bonnie was lying on her back on the bar with one lean leg extended upward just moving to the beat and singing off-key to some sixties song.

"They're drunk," Kol gasped a little startled to see the girls in such a state.

"They're more than that," Elijah gasped as he finally spotted Elena. She was on the table behind the couch putting on her very best stripper moves and proving that Katherine was a poor imitation of Elena every time. Elijah was watching in a mixture and horror and excitement when Elena began to work the zipper at the side of her little white dress downwards.

"Okay show's over," Elijah said as he dethroned Elena and tossed her over his shoulder.

No way was he letting her strip in front of them. No way.

"This is all Damon's fault," Rebekah announced when she finally realized her brothers were there. "whoops!" she squealed as she pitched off the table and thankfully into Stefan's arms.

"Okay off you come," Klaus coaxed a protesting Caroline off the table. She stumbled as she tried to walk and then giggled as he scooped her into his arms.

"Stefan you'll bring Bekah," Klaus called over his shoulder and Stefan knew it was more than a suggestion. As he went to get Rebekah he raised a brow as Kol was headed out the door with Bonnie wrapped around his waist and kissing him with reckless abandon.

"Well at least none of them are mean drunk," Elijah sighed as they got everyone loaded into the two cars they had brought. By the time they made the mansion Kol and Bonnie were still making out, Elena still wanted to party with Elijah and Klaus was fussing to anyone who would listen.

"She threw up in the car! I just got that car detailed!"

"What's he doing here? Did he come to party too?" Elena asked as Elijah slung Damon over his shoulder and flashed inside. Stefan appeared a moment later and the men managed to get all of the girls inside. By the time Klaus and Elijah had secured Damon they returned upstairs to find Elena and Rebekah both trying to fawn all over Stefan. Caroline had found the nearest bottle of scotch and was working on overindulging. Elijah knew it took copious amounts of alcohol to get a vampire this drunk so Damon Salvatore was either very reckless, very careless or up to something.

"How exactly do you think they came to be at the boardinghouse today?" Elijah posed the question to his brothers and Stefan.

"Damon wanted us to give you up," Caroline slurred. "Especially Elena - said you could never love her." Stefan just shook his head.

"All I respectfully ask it that you just don't kill him," Stefan looked to Elijah, "he is my brother."

VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV

Hours later Damon woke up and realized three things:

First was that he was in the Mikaelson's basement.

Second was that he was tied up by chains and as he tried pulling, he could feel the vervain burning him.

Third the three brothers were there and each one had a weapon of some sort in their hands.

Klaus had a dagger, Elijah a sword and Kol a baseball bat.

He was doomed.

Kol had strung Damon up when Klaus said, "it would be easier to hang him upside down Kol."

He looked and nodded, shifting Damon from right side up to upside down in a heartbeat. Elijah looked at his sword and with one vicious move of the blade, it went down from the younger vampire's sternum to his carotid artery before Klaus had to pull him away from thrusting the blade into him.

"Do you really think that Elena would forgive you for killing me?" Damon managed to get out with his usual arrogance and lazy smile when Elijah dropped his sword and got right up in his face.

" _She is my wife and mate! I love her more than you could ever imagine and if she wanted I would rip your heart out of your chest!"_ Elijah roared.

Thunder and a darkening sky had been heralding a thunderstorm for a couple of hours before it had started about a half hour ago. Damon had smirked as he realized just how cliché the lightening and flickering electricity was. The second that the power went out, Damon decided to take advantage and found a way to escape the vervain chains that bound him. Flashing upstairs, he found Elena on the main staircase. She was aghast as she took in his appearance. He grabbed Elena by the arms and shook her.

"Elena! Elena! Please-you don't deserve to be tied down to him so _let me save you! Please! Think about what you are doing Elena. Look at what they're doing. See them – see him – for the monsters they truly are,"_ he all but begged her. His vivid blue eyes were so very desperate and Elena realized that he wasn't doing this to be cruel. He really thought that she needed saving.

"You don't want this Elena. You went back in time and had a little adventure and okay maybe a little romance but that doesn't mean you stay married for the all of time!"

Her indecision about her marriage and her feelings for Elijah since she had returned had given him the impression that she still needed him to be her savior. It was a role that Stefan had given up several months ago but Damon was still holding on – wearing his heart on his sleeve. It was almost noble really that he would go through so much just for her. For a moment the need to put others before herself sprang to life within her.

Elena smiled sadly at him as she prepared to break his heart. "I do love him Damon. I really do. I may have married Elijah a thousand years ago because I loved him then but I want it to work now. I love my husband Damon." Elena didn't realize she had an audience as the three brothers stood at the bottom of the stairs. Klaus reached over and patted Elijah on the back thankful that he had retained Elena's heart. Elijah appeared before Elena and they simply stared at one another for a long, charged moment before she turned and fled up the stairs.

Elijah watched her go with a frown – wondering why she had fled in the first place when his attention was regained by the sight of Kol pitching Damon back down the stairs.

"Now now brother," Klaus said with a dark chuckle as he looked at Kol. "We wouldn't want to kill him now, do we?"

"I do." Kol growled but listened to his brother. The bat was being held fondly in his hands.

"I don't care how badly injured he gets from the both of you-he isn't to leave here knowing what we did to him and what he had done to the girls when they all were at his house! _Understand?"_ Elijah got out from where he was standing on the stairs, ready to follow Elena upstairs.


	24. Chapter 24

**Chapter 24**

When Elijah closed the doors behind him to the sitting room of his suite Elena was standing about ten feet back from the French doors to the covered balcony. He had left them open earlier when he had been interrupted from his reading by Elena's disappearance and now the curtains that framed the window on either side of the doors were billowing inward with the wind from the storm. The thunder sounded violent as the clashes seemed to come almost one atop the next and the lightening would illuminate the entire vista as bright as midday only to be plunged back into pitch black again.

Elena was completely transfixed. She had always been a little frightened by thunderstorms. She didn't mind a good rain and even enjoyed walking in it if the conditions were right but thunderstorms made her uneasy. This one seemed to be even more vivid. She jumped as the next clap of thunder sounded.

"Elena," Elijah said her name gently as he approached her. He wasn't even sure she'd heard him come in. He stopped to admire her beauty illuminated by the storm. The wind was blowing her waist length hair and she reminded him of an avenging goddess.

"So you're in love with your husband…" he said in a husky tone as he ran his fingers over her arms. She trembled as even this feather-light touch set her senses on fire. Boldly he leaned in and kissed the side of her neck bringing her back to rest against his front.

"I was a week ago…or a thousand years ago…I really can't seem to wrap my mind around either," Elena sighed with the tension of the last few days. Kol and Bonnie seem to be remembering what it felt like and Klaus is charming Caroline…"

"Is that a hint?" Elijah asked.

"No," Elena said gently. Elijah laid his hand on her midriff and suddenly unbidden images of her standing in the pond with him came flooding into her mind. Her hair and gown were soaked – both clinging to her but the feel of his body against hers was warming her deep within.

"I could hardly believe it when I got that memory," he whispered huskily against her ear.

"You should have been there," Elena said her voice becoming husky as well. The thunder clashed angrily again and Elena turned in his arms and buried herself against him. His arms came around her tenderly.

"It's okay Elena," he said gently. "I've got you and now that I do I'm never going to let you go."

"I've kind of had a crush on you for a while now," Elena finally admitted.

"I think you admitted to more than that earlier…" Elijah said gently. He tilted her chin up so their eyes met. "I love you Elena."

"I love you Elijah."

"Will you marry me?"

"I think we already did that."

"There's seems to be some doubt as to whether or not it's valid…"

"Not to me – there never was," Elena interrupted him.

"…I thought we might try it again with an audience this time. I want you to have the wedding of your dreams with everyone you know and love in attendance and your brother to walk you down the aisle." For a response Elena rose up on her tiptoes, wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him lovingly.


	25. Chapter 25

**Chapter 25**

Kol had been looking for Bonnie all over the house. When Klaus had finally pulled him off Damon Kol's only other concern was Bonnie. He had checked every room in the house and was beginning to worry that somehow she had disappeared yet again when he felt pulled towards his bedroom. Why hadn't he realized that he could use the bond to find her?

He followed the bond to his bedroom and looked again. At first glance the room was empty but then he realized she was completely hidden under the down comforter of the bed. He quietly closed the door.

"I'm alright guys," Bonnie's muffled voice called from under the comforter. "It's just another storm."

"Have you always hated them love?" Kol asked as he lifted the comforter and slid carefully underneath it to join her.

"Kol" He smiled at her obvious surprise and wrapped his arms around her waist as he curled the rest of his body around hers.

"Now I feel foolish. You don't have to stay."

"There is nowhere else I'd rather be right now," Kol replied. "Why do you feel foolish? Lots of people are afraid of bad weather."

"I doubt you're afraid of anything," Bonnie said. "Kol Mikaelson the big bad original and fear shouldn't even exist in the same sentence."

"I'll tell you a secret," Kol said tenderly where his mouth was just below her ear, "I have been afraid several times in just the last week. I was terrified when I realized that I had by some miracle convinced you to marry me and then I betrayed your trust by turning you. To make matters worse you were out there somewhere in transition and if I didn't get to you in time I was going to lose the most amazing thing to happen to me in a thousand years." Bonnie tried to look at him over her shoulder shocked at what he had said.

"I'm still worried that someone will take this away from me – they will declare our marriage invalid and you will want that." He added. "So you see love I'm not nearly as tough as I pretend to be."

"I'm glad," Bonnie said after a long silence. She trembled in his arms and Kol held her tighter. After the jerking motions continued he finally realized that she was crying a little.

"Bonnie?"

"Kol Mikaelson that is the most amazing thing anyone has ever said about me – you better have meant it."

"To the depths of my very soul Bonnie Mikaelson," he said tenderly. As it continued to storm outside he held his little witch - for he would always think of her as such – keeping her safe from the storm. He smiled as she actually relaxed and eventually fell asleep in his arms.

VVVVVVVVVVVVVV

Meanwhile Rebekah had carefully ascertained that Klaus was in the basement with Damon and both Kol and Elijah were with their wives. She led Stefan into one of the little used sitting rooms and as soon as the door was closed she kissed him with reckless abandon. Stefan resisted for only a moment and then he was kissing her as she was kissing him. They stumbled backwards towards the chaise and finally Stefan lowered Rebekah onto it. By now she was down to just the scant pair of lacy, black underwear she had worn just for him.

Stefan smiled hungrily at her as she shoved his shirt over his head. As he settled atop her on the chaise her tongue reached up to tease first one nipple and then the other as Stefan groaned. He leaned in and kissed her jaw and then down her neck. Their mouths met hungrily again before he took his turn capturing one of her delicate nipples and teasing it taut with his tongue.

She opened her mouth to protest when he literally ripped the small triangles of black lace off her but he silenced her with another kiss and a moment later he was inside her. She struggled not to cry out her passion as she eagerly met his every move with counter thrusts of her own. She climbed higher and higher realizing that it hadn't been this good in a very long while. Finally her world shattered and she couldn't hold back any longer. She cried out his name as his own climax slammed into him.


	26. Chapter 26

**Chapter 26**

Jeremy was smiling as he watched his girlfriend make the flower petals surrounding them float up in a swirl of colors and she lay down beside him.

"I haven't been able to do anything fun with my magic for years!" she said, sounding exuberant about what she had just done for the both of them. He pulled her into his arms and pressed a kiss to her temple. It had been during their pizza and movie date that she ended up telling him everything about herself.

 _(Flashback)_

 _After ordering a large all meats pizza, he went straight for the movie collections that he was able to find when the doorbell went off. Checking the time, he raced to the front door and the second he opened it, there she stood in all her glory._

 _From her long curled dark hair hidden carefully underneath a cloche hat in an ivory color that blended well with her red pea coat and the black suede ankle boots she wore._ _Smiling, he motioned for her to come in and the second she stepped inside, she stood rigid._

 _"Are you alright?" he asked and her eyes turned gold before turning back to the dark color they originally are._

 _"I smell vampires." She choked out before he stood right in front of her, his eyes dark._

 _"You what?" he tried controlling his voice but she heard the anger in it nonetheless. What she didn't hear or see was any kind of shock or surprise. Most people laughed at her if she mentioned vampires in any real context but Jeremy had taken it for fact._

 _"Vampires-bloodsucking nightcrawlers who eat most people." She answered. "I have lived with two of them since Katherine Pierce killed my family sixteen years ago."_ _He could feel his mind reel with this new information._

 _"A vampire killed your family and yet you live with vampires?"_ _She nodded._

 _"I do-and not all of them are as evil as her." She looked up at him and held her hands out. "If you want, I can make you forget me and live a normal life."_

 _He snorted. "Not likely as I hunt vampires, my sister is a vampire as is her husband-that's a long story right there-and most of my relatives or friends happen to be a vampire/werewolf hybrid, actual vampires, and a hunter of some kind."_

 _"That's quite a lot of vampires that you're unafraid of." She looked at her hands before her eyes met him. "Not how I envisioned our date to go. Jeremy."_

 _"The night's still young Angeline." He teased._

 _(End flashback)_

Since that night, he and Angeline slowly moved from friends to dating (though they didn't go as far as he and Vicki had gone) this was a relief to the both of them as they just wanted to be in the moment.

"Will I ever meet your sister?" she asked him as she curled into his side and propped her head up on his chest. "You know-the sister who went back in time, fell in love with and married an Original, became an Original and is now being courted by said husband? That sister."

"I would ask how you feel about vampires but as you've grown up with them," he kissed her nose lovingly. "I'll ask Elijah."

"On a first name basis with him now, are we?" He had to laugh at her as she smirked at him.

"I kinda have to be."

VVVVVVVVVVVV

Jeremy had driven to the Mikaelson mansion in deep thought as he remembered something that Angeline had told him.

 _(Flashback)_

 _It was only days into their friendship when he asked, "what do you know about the Originals?"_

 _"The first family," she summarized. "Born back in the 10th century, mostly crazy and each one has some kind of trust issues." She frowned and looked at him with a suspicious glance. "Why?"_

 _"I'm related to one of them." He whispered and she choked on her laughter._

 _"Really?" at his nod, she snorted. "Yeah and I have wings because I'm the tooth fairy." She told him through her laughter. "Seriously, Jeremy."_

 _"I can tell you that Klaus is a hybrid."_ _That simple sentence made her freeze. Dropping the pen from her hands, she turned to look at him. He had said 'is' not 'was'._

 _"He's back?" At his nod, she shivered._

 _"There was a descendant of his werewolf father that makes him my-well, my many times great uncle or something."_

 _(End flashback)_

If Klaus had known that Katherine had nearly exterminated his werewolf bloodline, Jeremy had a feeling that Klaus would find and torture Katherine for another five hundred years just for what she had done.

Pulling up the driveway, his body was shaking with nerves even as Elijah came to meet him out on the steps with a happy grin on his face. Shutting the engine off, Jeremy got out of the car and walked past him to go inside.

"Who else is here?" Jeremy asked - his resolve to tell Elijah what he knew from Angeline.

"It's just me as the girls are out buying clothes, Klaus is at the police station apologizing to Sheriff Forbes and Kol is somewhere causing trouble with Stefan watching him for me." Elijah told him. "Why?"

"Katherine needs to be killed." Elijah, looking at the young man before him, motioned for him to sit on the couch while he sat in a club chair. "She killed Angeline's-"

"Who is she?" Jeremy blushed at his question.

"I met her at school and she was there at The Grill when Kol had that party happening." Elijah groaned as he remembered the headache from that day. "I had a dinner date with her…Elijah, she's a werewolf-witch hybrid but that's not all." Elijah knew that it was bad as the young man in front of him was shaking in anger.

"Is she a member of this family?"

"From Klaus' werewolf family. He's her many times great uncle."

"What did Katerina do to warrant me finding her and killing her?" He was already afraid of the answer and if he knew Klaus then the Original Hybrid himself would find and slaughter Katerina.

"She killed Angeline's family sixteen years ago."

Those words sealed Katerina's fate.

She would die and he would make sure that it wouldn't be merciful at all.

VVVVVVVVVVVVVVV

Elijah stared at his wife warily as she twirled around in her dress, seeing if it really does look good on her or not when he just wanted her in his arms and to feel her soft skin…

Shaking off the images he began having, though leaving a beautiful salacious smirk on his face, he went right behind her and purred out, "how would you love to go out to dinner with me, your brother and his girlfriend?"

"He's dating someone?" Elena exclaimed turning in his arms. She smiled up at him and he nodded.

"He is."

"Then I would love to go to dinner with you Mr. Mikaelson." She murmured before kissing him.

VVVVVVVVVVVVVV

Damon stared at his lover who was sitting across from him at the cafe they were dining at in Pensacola, Florida. He watched as her finger delicately traced the stem of her glass. He hadn't left Mystic Falls with her by choice they left-no, they were _banned_ by the brothers at least three days after that horrid thunderstorm that hit when Elena – deluded - had chosen Elijah over him.

"Are you sure that this plan is going to work?" He asked after another bite of his shrimp carbonara. She gave him a dark and alluring smile as she nodded.

"Trust me baby," she cooed. "It'll all work out in our favor. I promise."

VVVVVVVVVVVV

Angeline Nikolaev smiled as she sat at the fanciest restaurant she could ever imagine with her boyfriend Jeremy Gilbert, his sister Elena and her husband Elijah Mikaelson-an Original Vampire. Everything spoke of elegance from the silk and wood paneled walls to the vermeil chandeliers. She was even a little in awe at the assortment of silverware neatly arranged on either side of each place setting.

"Angeline it's nice to meet you," Elena smiled kindly once everyone had gotten seated.

"And you as well. I kept asking Jeremy if he was ever going to introduce us," Angeline smiled.

"For reasons which I am sure you are aware that's a bit of a tricky subject – trickier when you know and understand who my husband is," Elena said with a brief glance to Elijah. He raised a brow. He had never before witnessed how protective Elena was of him and his identity.

"So how is it that you know what we are?" Elena asked very softly.

"Elena chill with the twenty questions!" Jeremy hissed.

"No it's alright," Angeline smiled laying a hand on Jeremy's arm. Elena didn't miss the gesture. "I don't know if Jeremy's told you much about me but," she dropped her voice to a whisper, "I'm a witch – werewolf hybrid."

"There's a new one," Elena commented.

"I was born in Paris but moved here before I could remember any of it. My adopted parents are vampires and they say that my witchcraft prowess is very strong."

"I know a witch that would have loved to train with you and help you but…she's not one anymore," Elena bit her lower lip.

"The Bennett witch – Jeremy told me about her. Actually I think Kol would have been more on my level but he's not available either…" Angeline shrugged but her comment had gotten Elijah's attention. She knew quite a bit about his family and he wasn't sure if he could trust her. She was either going to be an ally or a formidable enemy though for Jeremy and Elena's sake he hoped it was the former.

Angeline looked at the menu in front of her and nodded. A Greek salad and a ricotta and spinach stuffed manicotti looked good

"How did you two meet?" Elena asked as she stared at the young girl.

Jeremy and Angeline had choked on the water they just took a sip of. Elijah, knowing when it happened, smirked at his brother in law.

"It was when you went on that girls vacation with Caroline and Bonnie." Jeremy choked out. He wasn't going to tell her when it happened! No way!

Elena knew that they were hiding something but she ignored it. Perhaps she'd try her luck getting it out of her smirking husband instead.

"We actually met at this party at The Grill. Jeremy's bold moves impressed me," Angeline blushed, "I've never been up against a wall on a first anything…"

"Jeremy Gilbert!" Elena's whole face was aghast with shock.

"Now, Elena…they are practically adults…besides there's something to be said for bold moves…like moonlight and ponds…" Elijah's voice almost slipped into that husky register that made Elena's insides turn to jelly and she suddenly found her lap very interesting.

VVVVVVVVVVV

Two lone figures –a male and a female-were wearing heavy cloaks that looked odd underneath the hot sun. They began walking over to an old apartment complex that's seen better days to talk to some guy when a tall man with sandy brown hair appeared in front of them and spoke in a British accent.

"What did you want to talk to me about Kat love?"

Katherine Pierce smiled and handed him three manila envelopes. Opening the first one, he saw many pictures focusing on Elena Gilbert Mikaelson, her brother and Alaric Saltzman doing their everyday activities.

"I want you to make those closest to Elena Gilbert disappear as well as the other girls-Caroline Forbes and Bonnie Bennett Ethan sweetie." Damon was shocked as Katherine's tone mimiced that of a mother who was making sure that their child was on his best behavior. It was enough to freak anyone out.

Ethan Williams smiled though he eyed the man beside his sire warily, like he was planning a trap of some sort, he pretended that he didn't know it as his eyes stayed on the brunette's picture longer than what Katherine's associate liked.

The male beside Katherine was just hiding his surprise at discovering this _side_ of her that he never knew existed.

 _Yes_ , he knew that Elena was gorgeous but it didn't mean that Katherine's one hundred year old child needed to look at her picture with lust and desire. The figure that he was staring at in the picture was in her cheerleading uniform and had her arms around her little brother Jeremy, both smiling and waving to the camera.

Damon would enjoy killing him and he, Damon Salvatore, would finally be the hero in Elena's eyes.

All Damon needed was that idiot squad back in Mystic Falls to come here with the daggers and boom-he would have most of them neutralized (he himself wouldn't be the one holding the daggers as he wouldn't risk his own life) and the second they woke up, Elena would be his even after he killed this _Ethan_.

He could wait, he did spend over a hundred years waiting for Katherine, this should be as easy as pie.


	27. Chapter 27

**Chapter 27**

Angeline smiled as she walked into the Mikaelson's mansion in Mystic Falls and tried to calm her nerves. She was so excited about meeting the rest of the family. After meeting Elijah and him being nice to her, she hoped that the others would be the same way. She had studied the original vampire family. Everyone in the supernatural community with any clout knew the legends but actually meeting one was an entirely different story.

Everything about the mansion screamed opulence and beauty. She smiled as she twirled around a little bit and imagined herself in a beautiful ball gown with classical music playing.

"Who are you?" She was taken from her daydream by a blonde haired man. He was built tall and lean but there was no denying there was strength in every inch of him. She could feel the power coiled tightly within him and watched the spark of curiosity flare in his amber eyes making the gold flecks even more vibrant. Angeline stared at the blonde British Original Hybrid. Where was her voice?

She was shell shocked and couldn't speak.

Thankfully she didn't have to as Elijah entered the room. He smiled at the girl who was still distracted by the sight of someone she considered a family member. He was rather used to his siblings having a disconcerting effect on those that knew who they truly were – Klaus in particular. For this girl it was more than that. She was looking at family – a distant relation and family seemed to be important to her.

"Angeline," Elijah said warmly. "I am glad you made it." She nodded - her eyes still on Klaus who looked unnerved about it. Elijah smirked and nodded. "Niklaus I want you to meet Angeline Nikolaev, a hybrid werewolf-witch with a distinct werewolf bloodline."

"I'm related to you." She blurted. Klaus paled. "Through your werewolf father."

"Where are the rest of these _relatives_?" The Hybrid asked and Angeline shivered though Elijah answered for her.

"Thank Katerina for killing her family Niklaus." If Katerina ever set her sights on Klaus, that'll be the last thing she does. He would kill her and judging from the startled gasp behind him, Caroline would join him on that spree.

"It happened sixteen years ago." Caroline looked at Angeline and her eyes darkened.

"You're sixteen, aren't you?" Caroline asked. Angeline nodded.

"They were killed five days after the full moon and I was three months old."

Klaus stared at her nervously. If she was being truthful-though he could tell by the scent of her blood, then where has she been for the past sixteen years?

Seeing how confused Klaus looked, she explained in a nervous voice.

"I was found by-by two vampires…they raised me here in the states…if you don't believe me, call them." She managed to get her cell phone out and dialed a number.

Handing the phone to Klaus, he spoke when he heard a distinct female voice in a French accent say, "Angeline darling? Are you okay?"

"My name is Klaus Mikaelson-" he managed to get out when the female voice spoke.

"Oh my! I had thought you a legend!" She sounded so thrilled about actually talking to a legend. "My name's Eva Lafleur."

VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV

Damon smirked from his hotel suite as he called Alaric, just wanting to chat when he began to break some windows, to validate himself being 'taken' which would spur the hunters into action as well as Elena. After having 'someone' start to break the phone, he looked around and nodded.

His grin didn't leave until he got to the warehouses on the marina where Katherine and Ethan were waiting.

"I set up the bait to make them believe that I've been taken, did you manage to get your end of this trap done?" he asked Katherine.

"If you mean making Sheriff Forbes and Abby Bennett believe that _Elena_ had been taken then yes," she snapped at him. "God! Why didn't they question the validity of her supposed 'kidnapping'?"

Damon thought for a moment only to realize that they must have known it was a trap but he wasn't going to tell that to Katherine.

If she wanted to believe that they would drop everything to save Elena, then he would make sure that she believed it.

A paraphrased version of a saying that his father had told him echoed in his mind.

 _You may have won the battle but there is still the war that you cannot win_

He was going to make sure that this time, _he_ will win not just the battle but the war as well.

VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV

Kol and Rebekah stared at the Hybrid who was sitting outside on the deck with a pretty girl with long dark hair that she had in a French braid. He was showing her some sketches that he had created and she seemed to absorb just how talented he was and was appraising each one, with looks of awe on her face.

As the two got closer, they heard their brother ask a surprising question.

"How did you know that we were related?"

The girl snorted. "My father was the werewolf and he wanted to know more about his genealogy so he got in touch with my adopted father Nathan who specializes in finding out people's bloodlines. He had worked with my mother and adopted mother Eva, so when my birth parents met it was the start of their love affair which led to marriage and finally me." Klaus, feeling something in his heart for her, did something that would have startled everyone watching.

Dropping his sketch books, he pulled her into his arms and hugged her.

The girl didn't hesitate to hug him back and they could see the tears on her face.

"Ah, what have we here? No one told me we were having guests," Kol grinned as he breezed into the room. He held out his palm and when Angeline had placed her hand atop his he raised it to his mouth and kissed her knuckles but at the same time he smiled at her beneath hooded eyes and it was designed to hint at all the things this man was capable of.

"I'm Kol - the youngest of the Mikaelsons still in existence," he greeted. "And you are beauty itself..."

"Kol..." Elijah warned. Kol just tilted his head to the side and smiled at his oldest living brother.

"Elijah do remember your manners. I am always telling him that it's important to make a guest feel truly welcomed," Kol gave Angeline one of his most smoldering looks.

"He already knows how to treat a guest as well as a family member Uncle Kol." Angeline told him with a smirk reminiscent of Klaus'. It was only seconds later that Kol was on his knees and Klaus stood over him with a glint in his eyes.

"If I see you anywhere near her," Klaus was growling and his hybrid face was showing. "I won't hesitate to dagger you for another hundred years."

"Those dagger threats are growing so old Klaus…" Rebekah purred as she waltzed into the room looking gorgeous as usual. She slowly surveyed the young woman before her taking in her every feature. Then she turned back to her brother.

"And don't let Elena hear you she goes positively batty whenever they're mentioned…" Rebekah said. "Besides we've all been playing so well together as a family. What's this about there being one more of us?"

"It seems Angeline is a descendant of Klaus' father," Elijah filled in. Rebekah looked surprised and a little amused by the announcement.

"I'm Rebekah," she introduced herself, "but then I'd imagine a clever girl like you would already know that."

VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV

You could hear swearing and things being thrown around in the Gilbert house by Alaric Saltzman when Elena snapped at him in a shout.

"Just calm down!" he stared at her with wide eyed horror but complied meekly. "Tell me what did you hear in the background."

"Things breaking," he counted. "I could hear most of the glass breaking and then Damon telling whoever it was to 'leave me alone' when he hung up-or the phone broke or something." Elena nodded and as she was jotting it all down with a pen from where she was sitting at the dining room table with a notebook when Bonnie flashed in and had miscalculated by quite a bit. Instead of stopping in front of Elena, she stopped and tripped over the end table, getting tangled up in the wires belonging to the lamp that had been there which was now broken.

"It was ugly," Caroline called from where she stood. She was the only one who was able to walk in at a human pace. "Seriously, it takes you all this long to get rid of it?"

"Mom and Dad loved it," Elena told her as she nibbled on the end of said pen. "After they died, Jenna said that she couldn't get rid of it for 'sentimental issues' which meant that whenever she would see it she would burst into shameless tears."

Caroline saw how out of it her friend was and walked over to her after untangling Bonnie. Both girls went over to Elena and saw what she was writing.

"I had gotten a weird phone call from my mom saying that you've been kidnapped and were being held ransom inside some warehouse in Pensacola, Florida."

Bonnie nodded. "I got the same call."

"Damon gave me a call and was taken." Alaric supplied when Elena shook her head.

"I doubt it." Once all three looked at her, she proceeded to make that same phone call that Alaric had gotten and he growled as he saw how easy it was for a vampire to do that trick. "If I had made that call and wanted to lure out my enemies, I would target said enemies' friends first."


	28. Chapter 28

**AN: Before I get anymore reviews saying that I am copying someone else's work, I am saying this ONCE!**

 **I AM THE CO-AUTHOR OF THIS STORY!**

 **Now that's settled...**

 **Chapter 28**

If anyone told Angeline Nikolaev that she would be on a jet with the entire Mikaelson family and some other people-Alaric Saltzman, Jeremy and some kid named Tyler Lockwood-she would have had you in a psychiatric hospital before the night was out.

No, she was here and she could feel her body tense until Klaus sat beside her and gave her a grimoire that he had found with his mother's collected ones.

"If there is anything in here that can help," he whispered quietly to her. "Use that spell. I don't care what the spell is, use it and help take down Katerina for good."

"I'll do my best." She whispered. He nodded and moved to go and sit with Caroline who was nibbling on one of her fingernails and twirling a strand of blonde hair around her finger.

Angeline ignored them and flipped through the grimoire, trying to find any spells that could work against whoever decided that siding with Katherine was a good idea when three spells caught her eye.

A spell to make their enemies turn to ash-even with a Daylight Ring on their finger, another one to incite the elements and finally, one to find a true mate.

Smiling, she knew that those three would be great to use.

VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV

Damon smirked at the bartender over his cheap bottle of bourbon and gave him a salute only for someone to push him up against the bar. He knew who it was as that scent never left his senses.

"Katherine." Said vampire ended up snarling at him.

"You knew that they knew it was a trap, didn't you!" she shouted and at his smirk, she grabbed the bottle and bashed his head in.

He was down for the count and she smiled as she decided to play this game her way. If there was anything in this world that she did well, it was survive and this was the best way.

Play act like she had no idea, beg for her life as well as Ethan's and hopefully, find a way to get rid of her doppelganger.

Oh yes, she was going to play it her way now.

"I will win this time." She said with an evil smirk.

VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV

"Okay BonBon you've been very quiet," Kol said as he gathered her gently against him on the couch they were sharing of their Gulfstream 450.

"I have a bad feeling about all of this," she said and she squeezed his hand. Then she looked into his eyes and he gazed deeply into hers.

"You're worried about me…" he said becoming tender.

"You're my mate," she admitted gently. "When I am near you everything inside me feels more alive and when you are away I feel your absence gripping my heart. I can feel your emotions when they're especially strong as if they were my own. I love you Kol and I couldn't be without you." Kol grabbed her and kissed her deeply.

Meanwhile Stefan and Rebekah were at the back of the plane and she thought being ignored by the others onboard. She cuddled against him and he wrapped his arms around her and then their lips met. One kiss led to another and another. Rebekah was losing herself to his kisses and tender caresses.

"What – wha…" Kol's stammer brought Rebekah back to reality. She looked up to realize that she had an audience. Klaus and Kol were standing before her. Elijah joined them a moment later.

"Rebekah what is the meaning of this?" Klaus gasped.

"Stefan Salvatore!" Kol growled.

"I told you to exercise caution," Elijah warned as he looked at Rebekah and Stefan.

"You knew?" Klaus and Kol whirled on Elijah.

"Yes," Elijah answered calmly. "Would you have someone reject your ability to be with your mate?"

"They are not mated," Klaus growled. Rebekah looked visibly hurt.

"How do you know?" Caroline stepped in and growled at her husband. Bonnie looked at Kol with a warning that said he'd better change his ways.

"Well at least it's this Salvatore," Kol sighed. Rebekah curled back against Stefan while the brothers continued to stand there transfixed.

VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV

Once the 'entertaining' plane ride (which was basically Angeline giving Kol headaches and illusions of being eaten alive by worms while glaring at her Uncle) landed, everyone went straight to the fanciest hotel. It had taken Elijah and Klaus most of the trip to find and gather allies when there was a knock on the door. The brothers knew that their allies had no idea where they were going to stay so when Klaus opened the door, he got a vervain and wolfsbane grenade going off in his face while the room was filled with a mixture of both tear gas, vervain gas and the combination of both.

It was enough to knock everyone out and when they all came to; they noticed that their numbers were down by four.

Elena, Rebekah, Bonnie and Caroline were missing.

Klaus was howling mad as were his two brothers and the younger Salvatore brother when they turned to Angeline who had a nasty head bump.

The Original Hybrid couldn't lose anymore of his family and bit into his wrist, begging her to drink it. Everyone was on edge, wondering if it worked or not until she began to pull his wrist closer to her mouth to get more and everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

Now, as they all looked around, they needed to find out where the girls were.

VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV

Elena woke with a gasp, feeling her neck as the last thing she remembered was that gas being sucked into her lungs and her neck was snapped. Looking around, she saw that she wasn't alone as Caroline was tied up in front of her and across from her was Bonnie who was also tied up. She didn't dare look beside her but as she did she was worried as she saw Rebekah there.

"Oh look," she turned to see Katherine there with some guy. "You're the first one up."

"What do you want?" Katherine walked over to her and smirked.

"I want your happiness." Elena looked at her with confusion and Katherine elaborated for her. "You stole my happiness Elena. You, the girl who did everything right and never once got into trouble stole mine away and now I'm going to take yours."

"How about you die first?" Elena spat and managed to head butt her copy. That tiny bit managed to knock the wooden chair over and she broke free of her restraints. Flashing over to the guy who pulled out a stake, she snapped his neck and undid her sisters' bonds before Katherine grabbed her and held her against the wall.

"Now I can see the Petrova Fire burning," she taunted. "Don't worry-it'll be gone just like your life and hey," her smile turned sinister. "I'll take real good care of-" she didn't finish as Stefan appeared behind Katherine and pushed her off Elena, breaking her spine.

Elena smiled at him and saw that he had Kol and Elijah with him. Kissing Stefan on the cheek, she went straight into Elijah's arms and kissed him like her life depended on it.

As their kisses grew more passionate, Kol called, "you two might want a room!"

VVVVVVVVVVVVVVV

Angeline was behind Klaus-as he had called her his 'power player'-when she saw Kol, Elijah and Stefan dragging a body to them and she placed her hand on him before nodding.

"He's going to wake at any moment." She warned and after the words left her mouth, the male vampire woke with a start.

"Who are you all?" he asked, ignoring the Originals but speaking to those standing beside them.

"Shouldn't you be asking who _we_ are?" Klaus asked as he motioned to himself and his family.

"You're the Originals," he supplied. "Pathetic and weak excuses of our-" he was stalled as he held his throat. It looked like he was choking himself but as they looked at Angeline, her eyes had shifted to amber and she had her hands out in front of her like she was controlling him.

That turned out to be true as her hands were squeezing the air and his hands mimicked hers though his lips turned blue almost instantly. Jeremy was there and placed his hand on her lower back and shaking his head at her as she looked at him.

Dropping the spell, the man began gasping for breath and she smirked.

"Don't get me mad-you'll not like me." she looked innocent as she tried quoting the Hulk's line but she butchered it not that Jeremy cared in that moment, if she said it correctly or not. Unlike his sister who went a thousand years into the past, Jeremy had one awesome party with Kol and he found his forever.

"Look who I've got with me." Rebekah shouts as she and Elena drag Katherine over to them with malicious glee drawn on their faces.

Katherine looked at the little witch and gave her a dark smile. "You think I'd forget you little Hybrid?" she asked as she saw Angeline there, standing halfway behind Klaus. "I can assure you I didn't forget." Her eyes darken and she licked her lips. "Did you know that I drained your mother before I ripped her heart out and then I shot your father ten times with bullets made out of wolfsbane and wood?"

"Katherine the reason you can't have happiness like mine is that you only want to take happiness. The best way to have happiness is to try and give it every day," Elena said.

"Oh honestly I've had enough with the all about Elena channel to last a lifetime. First the Salvatores moon over you practically dying to save you. Now you've even got originals doing it. What's so great about this girl? I mean can't you see she's a whore! Stefan had her and I'm sure Damon's had her because he likes hand me downs and I don't even want to guess how many of you Mikaelson boys she's wrapped around her finger."

"Katherine," Stefan growled.

"But then you must like whores these days Stefan," Katherine purred trying to see just how far she could push things. "when Elena left you for bigger and better you got yourself an original strumpet." Without warning Kol and Elijah lunged for Katherine but she was already falling to the ground before they could reach her. As she fell they saw Stefan behind her holding her heart. He hadn't hesitated to kill his sire to protect his mate and even in defense of Elena's honor.

"No!" the blonde man cried as he watched Katherine fall. He turned his full anger on Elijah. Then he moved to grab Elena but before he could do so with one swift swing of his arm Elijah had masterfully beheaded the man. Elena jumped as she was never used to seeing Elijah do such even though she knew he was quite capable of it.

VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV

Damon woke and paled as he saw Jeremy's girlfriend staring at him and she smiled sadly.

"I'm going to prove my loyalty to the Originals and this is the best way." She whispered as she stepped away from him just as the four Mikaelson siblings, Stefan, Elena, Caroline and Bonnie entered.

She had a drawn a circle around Damon with a piece of chalk and as she lit a candle in front of him and slit his hand, she whispered some Latin before he blacked out.

"What have you done Angeline?" Kol asked in horror.


	29. Chapter 29

**Chapter 29**

Calleigh sprang to her feet taking in her new surroundings in a panic. She was losing her mind tonight – that had to be the only logical conclusion – if she could still make logical conclusions. After the night she'd had she wasn't exactly sure.

She'd left her job tonight after putting up with three years of abuse from a manager that looked like he was right out of high school – although Calleigh was only 24. She was walking towards the nearest subway – usually she got a taxi but she was going to need to scrape together all her spare change to make it until she found another job.

Strong arms grabbed her and pulled her into an alley. She had tried to fight with everything her self-defense class had taught her but her attacker seemed to have the strength of ten men. His sterling grey eyes held hers for a long moment before he bit her! He actually bit her and he broke the skin! She felt like she was being drained. He pulled away after a moment and she reached a shaky hand to her neck. There was definitely a gash there. She looked down at her blood-covered hand in disbelief.

"You bit me," Calleigh gasped. Why she didn't cry out for help or try to run away she couldn't fathom but something within her told her not to even try.

"Let me help you with that," her attacker almost purred in a velvety voice with what sounded like maybe a Russian accent. The next thing Calleigh knew his blood was being shoved down her throat. She tried to spit it out – blood carried all kinds of disease but he held her until she was forced to swallow. She spit the remainder into his face which he seemed to find amusing. She was surprised that she no longer felt the pain in her neck.

Suddenly her mind refocused on his hand that was hiking her skirt up. Her eyes widened with new horror.

"I have money – take what's in my purse – take it!" She pleaded. It all turned out to be for nothing and in the end the monster had taken anything and everything he wanted from her. She had been helpless to stop him. She could feel herself growing weaker the more he bit her. It was like something out of one of her romance novels – if vampires existed and instead of being misunderstood were really the monsters that horror movies depicted.

The streets had crowded with the bar-hopping and clubbing scene when her eyes opened next. Her throat was burning and her head was pounding. She looked down at her blood-smeared clothing and finally the tears came. She sobbed as her mind replayed every cruel moment. Then she realized she was sitting in a filthy alley in New York City. She looked around for her purse but found it was missing as well. This was the worst night of her life! She should at least be grateful that she was still alive.

"Ma'am, miss are you okay?" A man asked. He was approaching her. Calleigh slid back up the wall still not sure her legs would support her. "Here – let me help you."

As he drew near she could hear a steady thumping sound. It was foreign and familiar at the same time and it was calling to her. As the man reached out a hand to help her she hit him with a broken bottle - what was she doing? She was in utter disbelief as she wiped some of the man's blood onto her fingers before he ran away. She stared at the blood for a moment and then she licked her fingers. Sharp, agonizing pain shot through her head and she could feel a ripping inside her mouth. What was happening to her? Her body slumped back against the wall in her shock. Then suddenly she wasn't in the alley at all.

Calleigh looked around at the room of unfamiliar faces all focused on her. She looked down and realized her clothes were still bloody and torn – perhaps this was one long nightmare? Her long, natural, gloriously red hair was probably a tangled mess. She stared at the strangers with her eyes as brilliantly green as the most prized emeralds.

"You're okay," a shorter brunette woman with tresses all the way to her waist offered a smile. She reached out and touched Calleigh and a minute later she jumped back. Her face was full of shock and pity.

"There's something happened to me," Calleigh said with only the barest hint of Irish brogue.

"We know," a man standing next to a caramel-skinned woman replied. They all seemed to be looking at her expectantly but none more than a man with black hair and piercing blue eyes. He looked like he belonged in an Abercrombie & Fitch ad.

"Damon she's brand new – maybe an hour ago," the brunette woman spoke to the man with the blue eyes. Even though the other woman spoke to him his eyes never left Calleigh's. Finally he offered her a smile and somehow that made Calleigh relax. She didn't understand the strange pull this stranger seemed to have over her.

"She was brutally attacked and then turned," the brunette woman said her chocolate brown eyes sympathetic.

"My name is Calleigh Shanahan. Where am I and who are you?" Everyone seemed to stare at her for another long moment. Finally one of the men spoke.

"This is all going to seem very strange to you but you're safe here. I'm Elijah and this is my wife Elena, my brother Klaus and his wife Caroline, my brother Kol and his wife Bonnie, my sister Rebekah and her husband Stefan. This is Stefan's brother Damon," Elijah motioned to each in turn. Damon was the one that could not take his eyes off her. He probably thought she was a homicidal maniac! Oddly instead of being terrifying though she found his gaze comforting.

"This is my niece Angeline Nikolaev and she was the one who brought you here," Elijah said.

"Where is here?" Calleigh asked.

"Pensacola Florida," Caroline smiled.

"Florida? Not possible…" Calleigh shook her head and Damon couldn't believe it but he could feel her panic rising.

"Calleigh it's okay. They won't hurt you. I won't let anyone hurt you," Damon said. Elena approached Calleigh and Damon flashed between them to cut her off. Calleigh screamed and Elijah was at Elena's side immediately.

"Elena, Damon's going to defend his mate," Elijah warned and Damon looked to him in shock of what had just happened.

"I don't know how you just did that or who you people are but this has got to be a bad dream and I just want to wake up," Calleigh worried. Most of the faces before her turned sympathetic.

"I am so sorry this happened to you," Damon finally found his voice. He cautiously approached Calleigh until he was standing before her.

"What do you remember about tonight?" he asked her.

"I quit my job, I was walking for the subway – in New York – and some guy pulls me into an alley and helps himself. The creep even bit me!"

"Did he give you his blood?"

"Why would you ask something like that?"

"Because someone gave you blood tonight…"

"This is my blood," Calleigh looked down at her clothing.

"Oh come now love did the big, bad vampire give you blood or not?" Kol taunted.

"Kol! You can't just be busting out the V-word!" Elena worried.

"Vampires?" Calleigh began to laugh. "Okay where's the hidden camera? You better believe I'm going to sue you for assault…" Anything else Calleigh might have said died on her lips as her eyes went wide. Klaus and Kol had both brought their fangs out.

"OMG," Calleigh gasped. "It's not…it's not…"

"Possible? I assure you it is," Elijah said.

"Stay away from me! Aren't you people worried? Look what one did to me and there's two standing right beside you!"

"Calleigh you're a vampire now," Damon tried gently. "That was a vampire that attacked you tonight. He attacked you, fed you his blood and most likely accidentally killed you."

"I'm dead?" she looked stricken and by now she noticed that the men all had their arms around their wives offering comfort.

"You died but because you had vampire blood in your system you came back as a vampire," Damon said. Calleigh shook her head in total disbelief.

"You had some blood when you woke up didn't you?"

"I hurt someone – he was trying to help me and I couldn't control myself. I cut him and then…the pain was awful…"

"She's making me hungry," Kol smiled and Bonnie punched him playfully. "What aren't you?"

"That's beside the point," Bonnie answered.

"So I have to kill people and drink their blood?" Calleigh looked mortified but at least she seemed to be starting to wrap her head around the situation.

"No you don't have to kill," Elena said, "but it's possible that you might actually do so on accident and you have to live with yourself because everyone in this room pretty much has been there but we'll help you – promise."

"I'm not staying with you. I'm not going anywhere with you. I'm going back to New York and I'm going to wake up from this and laugh. It will be the last time I drink too much. I'm probably passed out on my apartment floor!" Finally Damon had heard enough. He slit his wrist open and the blood came oozing out painting a trail down his skin as she watched transfixed. They watched as her features began to change and her fangs descended. Damon's wrist had closed before she reached him.

"You want it – take it," he ordered. She stared at him with a mixture of horror and hunger as he held his wrist out to her. It lasted only a moment and then she bit him. He groaned and then curled him against her.

"This is not for your eyes," Elijah told Elena and everyone else moved to the other end of the warehouse to give them some privacy.


	30. Chapter 30

**Chapter 30**

Angeline looked around her, seeing how angry and horrified the Mikaelson siblings were as they took in the state that the redheaded girl was in when she nodded. They were furious that a vampire had brutally attacked her and then left her bloodied and clueless to her fate.

"I wanted to prove myself to you all and I wanted him to find that one thing that makes people whole-love," she explained. "I wanted him to find his true mate and to see that even some monsters can truly be saved."

"Though what you just did-" Kol started until she cut him off.

"I knowingly did that spell and I'll bear the consequences of my actions." She snapped at him, her eyes turning amber instantly when two people appeared at the door to the warehouse.

One was a tall, dark haired male with dark eyes and a lean physique while the one beside him was a French beauty with curled blonde hair and blue eyes. She may look young but she was well into her three hundredth birthday. Angeline smiled.

"Mommy! Daddy!" she got out before running right into their arms and as each one held her, the man looked at them warily.

"Nathan Fletcher," he growled out. He knew that it was preposterous of him to be overprotective of a werewolf pup but from the second he met her, he had adored her. She wasn't his by blood but she was his baby girl and he would protect her. He turned to stare at the blonde who smiled at him.

"The Originals darling," she whispered in a French accent that was laced with a bit of a New Orleans accent. "I doubt that they'd hurt her." At the nods of the three brothers, the woman's blue eyes settled on Jeremy and smirked.

"I see that you have found your true mate Angeline darling." Angeline blushed and had her head down, believing that Jeremy couldn't be her true mate.

Elijah decided to soothe her worries and took some small steps to her. "Your mother is right, Angeline, you have found your true mate in Jeremy." Nathan looked at the boy who was his daughter's mate and made a motion for him to follow which the boy did.

Elena wanted to go and make sure that he would be fine but Elijah stopped her with a hand on her shoulder and a patient smile.

"He's as grown up as you are Elena and with a mate of his own now. You're going to have to adjust to that just as he's adjusting to our marriage and your being an original. When he needs help we'll all be there – or both of them," Elijah said. He swept Elena into his arms then.

"Elijah I can walk you know," Elena frowned.

"After today it might be a while before I let you out of my sight for a while," Elijah said.

"I am an original. Katherine would have quickly found out that she wasn't going to be able to kill me," Elena reminded him.

"Tell that to my heart," Elijah said before his lips descended on hers. They were still kissing as they returned to their hotel suite.

Meanhile Kol took Bonnie to a beautiful dinner and Klaus took Caroline to a walk on the beach with ice cream.

As for Stefan and Rebekah…they disposed of the bodies of Katherine Pierce and her child Ethan in good old fashion New Orleans style-they poured bourbon on the bodies and set them on fire before they began looking at wedding venues there.

VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV

Nathan was staring at her, watching her every move as she stood beside Jeremy with her hand in his and her eyes slightly shifting as they gazed at his. He knew that if someone did it for one person, the results were less than pleasant in most of the cases and that's why most-if not all witches who know this spell-tend to do it in groups of three.

"Do you know what that spell has done?" His voice was low, quiet even but still Jeremy could hear it just fine. "Because of your nature and for the fact that you haven't shifted…it would kill him-" Eva slapped his arm. "Figuratively speaking, of course."

Jeremy inclined his head a bit but didn't seem to care. Eva watched all of this with trepidation. She knew how the spell works and all-having seen it done numerous times in her three hundred year life-but had never experienced anything like it.

She knew that her daughter was strong but then again, so was this boy, judging by the way he was holding and carrying himself when her husband managed to speak quite loudly.

"Invoking that spell on one single person can be dangerous!" Nathan got out when Eva began to speak for him, once she calmed him down.

"Angeline," she was calmly speaking to her. "Sweetheart, I know that you wanted to help them-your family-and thought that this was the best way but that spell can either be a good thing or a bad thing." She sighed. "I have seen men go crazy trying to find that person they are mated to be with and sometimes, while they have that mate, the possession part does truly become 'possession' as they would do whatever they can and treat their mate like a porcelain doll." She smiled sadly. "I haven't truly witnessed watching a mated pair meet but I know that the feelings coming from it are truly intense."

"I'll protect her," Jeremy said as he stood in front of her with his eyes narrowed. Nathan cocked his head and as he made a motion to step closer to Angeline, Jeremy had a stake at the ready and was willing to use it. "I swear I will." Nathan smirked.

"The boy's got the stones to actually do what he says Eva." She nodded.

"You have finally met your match my sweet." Eva told Angeline with a loving kiss on her forehead.

"How about we all have dinner?" Angeline wanted this whole 'meet the relatives' bit to go smoothly-which it did-and now she decided that they should have dinner somewhere relatively nice. At this moment in time, she didn't care.

VVVVVVVVVVVVV

The next morning the upstairs concierge lounge had been reserved for the original family. Elena was one of the first up and she was finishing the preparation for a truly gigantic bowl of cereal when Kol appeared.

"Are you honestly going to eat all that?" he asked amused. Elena had the good grace to look a little flustered.

"No, my eyes are usually bigger than my stomach but it looks so good," Elena smiled as she settled on one of the couches with the bowl. Kol on the other hand opened one of the hot servers and inhaled deeply.

"Real sausages and eggs – now if there was just some haggis," he grinned. "Honestly Americans are so unoriginal with their breakfast."

"Elena you never finish that," Stefan sighed as he entered the room with his arm wrapped around Rebekah.

"Fantastic!" Rebekah exclaimed and she grabbed a spoon plopping down beside Elena who quirked a brow at Stefan. Stefan just shook his head in amusement and then fixed a hot plate of bacon, eggs and buiscuts. Bonnie appeared a moment later and both men stood up as another lady entered the room. She walked over to Kol with a smile and wrapped her arms around his neck. As she gave him a long loving kiss Elena and Rebekah snickered as she stole the sausage link from his plate at the same time. When their lips parted she winked at him and took a big bite.

"Hey!" Kol exclaimed when he realized what had happened. Bonnie just smiled as she made her way to the warmers and fixed a plate. Then she sat next to Kol and placed a new sausage link on his plate.

"Sell when it hits one fifty," Elijah's voice could be heard in the hall. "That's all the instructions I have. I expect the paperwork on those proposals to be completed by the end of the week." As he entered the lounge he was stowing his phone. His smile increased as he saw Elena and she lifted her head for a kiss.

"Are you going to eat all that?" he asked looking skeptical.

"That's the same thing I said," Stefan grinned in amusement.

"Me too," Kol smirked. Elena frowned and Rebekah took another spoonful.

"Leave Elena alone, "Rebekah ordered playfully, "no doubt she worked up an appetite last night." That was Elijah's cue to spew a mouthful of hot coffee onto Jeremy as he was entering the lounge holding hands with Angeline.

"I am so sorry," Elijah apologized as he hurried to help Jeremy clean up while Rebekah, Kol and Bonnie giggled. Elena meanwhile was coming to terms with the realization that Jeremy and Angeline had spent the night together. She choked on her next spoonful of cereal and Rebekah patted her on the back. Elijah had turned to look at her the moment he felt her distress.

"Goodness you two just can't take a joke," Rebekah remarked.

"No it's not that. I…" Elena said but she didn't finish as she was watching Jeremy fix a plate.

"Please tell me someone has found cream cheese?" Angeline asked cheerfully.

"Here," Stefan said holding up the container where he had just finished preparing a bagel. Angeline smiled as she took the container and then promptly jumped as the toaster ejected her bagel into the air. Kol who had been getting his second helping of eggs grabbed her plate and deftly caught both halves. Angeline smiled and gave Kol a quick kiss on the cheek.

"Thanks Uncle Kol. Now has anyone seen chocolate milk?"

Klaus strolled in about that time with Caroline in his arms. She was dressed but had her head buried against his shoulder still. Stefan, Kol and Elijah got to their feet and a moment later Jeremy joined them. It was taking a little bit for Jeremy to get used to the originals old-fashioned etiquette but the women seemed to love it.

Klaus settled the two of them on the couch across from Elena and Rebekah. Meanwhile Elijah had prepared a cup of coffee just the way Caroline liked it and delivered it on his way back to the club chair he was occupying next to Elena.

"Morning Klaus, Caroline," Elena greeted softly and indeed the volume in the room had dropped a little in deference to Caroline not being a morning person.

"Eureka!" Angeline exclaimed when Jeremy had managed to locate some chocolate milk for her. She threw her arms about his neck and kissed him with reckless abandon. Damon and Calleigh appeared a moment later and once again the men all stood. Calleigh looked apprehensive as Damon led her into the room.

"Is this a Mikaelson only party?" Damon asked.

"By all means join us," Elijah motioned for them to enter.

Calleigh looked vastly different this morning in a navy wrap dress that drew attention to her curves. Her red hair was clean and fell in delicate soft curls about four inches past her shoulders. She was perfectly poised on her navy wedge sandals.

"You're eating," Calleigh marveled.

"Popular culture gets a lot wrong about vampires," Kol said.

"Sparkling in the sun is my favorite yet," Damon growled.

"Sleeping in coffins," Stefan said.

"Burnt by silver," Kol said admiring his silver daylight ring.

"Have to kill people," Elijah said.

"Bats," Klaus smirked. Calleigh was marveling at their ability to be so flippant about what they were – what she now was.

"So you're not affected by the sun?" Calleigh asked. At her question Damon went into panic mode. Obviously the floor-to-ceiling windows must be double-paned and protected but Calleigh would perish in the sunlight.

"No sun very much affects us," Rebekah said. "That's why we wear these at all times." She said as she held up her hand bearing her ring. "If this room wasn't protected and I took my ring off like this…then my skin would immediately begin to burn and more than a few seconds exposure and I would burn completely." Stefan looked at her for a moment knowing that as an original she was incapable of being completely destroyed by sunlight but he supposed she was hesitant to expose the extra benefits of being an original.

Damon was fixing them breakfast plates when Calleigh walked over to Angeline who had finished her breakfast and was looking at the skyline from their impressive height. Calleigh closed her eyes and inhaled deeply. When she opened them she was beginning to vamp out.

"You smell so good…" Calleigh purred. A moment later Jeremy was between Angeline and Calleigh and it was a good thing because Calleigh bit him and as Jeremy cried out Damon and Elena were over there in a flash.

"Do something!" Elena demanded to Damon not wanting to injure the new vampire but unwilling to allow her brother to be gravely injured.

"Calleigh…Calleigh I know you can hear me. No one wants to hurt you but you don't want to do this. Jeremy has been nice enough to give you this much but you need to let go," Damon said gently. Everyone in the room was watching the situation preparing to step in if necessary. After a long, tense moment Calleigh finally pulled back and buried herself against Damon as the tears came. Elena sighed as all of the tension left her body.

"I am so sorry," Calleigh apologized to Jeremy as her tears subsided.

"Here I got you a little supplement to go with your breakfast," Stefan said as he handed Damon a blood bag.

"It's okay," Jeremy tried to reassure her. "It's not the first time."

"This is all so embarrassing…" Calleigh groaned.

"You're amongst family," Stefan said gently. "Don't feel so bad. Everyone has a hard time at first. Every vampire in this room has messed up worse than you have."

"Worse than…" Calleigh frowned.

"In that they killed someone," Jeremy spelled it out for her. Most of the group looked haunted by the lives they had taken.

Angeline's anger fluttered out from her and she snapped. Suddenly everyone in the room was suddenly holding their heads until Jeremy held her in his arms, trying to calm her down.

"Please Angel," he murmured into her ear. "Calm down." Her power receded and everyone felt their headaches dissipate. Taking her chocolate milk and her bagel, she walked with grace over to the couch and began eating.

"Okay, now I feel a little bad for having done that to you," Bonnie looked to Kol.

"Are you okay love?"

"I think I will be," Bonnie said.

"Caroline!" Klaus gasped for she was out cold.

"Try water," Bonnie suggested. Rebekah brought Klaus a wet cloth and he held it to Caroline's head. Finally her eyes fluttered open.

"No one should have to experience that kind of pain…" she murmured.

"You're okay," Klaus said gently and he wasn't sure if it was for Caroline's benefit or his own.

VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV

Breakfast was finished and their bags had been transported to the jet and loaded in the meantime. Damon worried over Calleigh as he bundled her up and led her out to the SUV that had been pulled under the covered entrance. The air strip was worse as he threw a blanket over her and carried her from the SUV to the plane. She had a death-grip on him by the time he got her in the plane and she looked petrified.

"How am I supposed to live like this?" Calleigh worried.

"Don't worry I'll get you a ring," Damon said. "I just have to find another resident witch." He gave a brief glance to Bonnie.

"I happen to already have one," Elijah said. "Angeline would you mind spelling this daylight ring for Calleigh? I think it will go a long way to making everyone feel better." He held out a ring with a square cut lapis stone and delicate scroll work of Mexican silver.

"What do you just travel around with a bunch of rings?" Damon asked.

"I learned a thousand years ago thanks to three girls and two brothers that it is always a good idea to have rings on hand because you never know what might happen," Elijah said. It took Elena a moment to realize one of those girls was her.

"Give me one good reason as to why I should spell this ring Uncle," she said as she gave the redhead a heated glare that made Damon and Stefan shiver. "All I need is one good one and I'll do it."

"It would make Damon happy to know that she can actually walk in the sun and she did apologize to Jeremy about the whole 'biting' incident." Elijah told her with a steely glare. Sighing, she took the ring and muttered something until she smirked and handed it to him.

"There you go." He nodded.

"Thank you Angeline." She nodded to him and walked over to sit down beside Jeremy. Laying her head down, she fell into a peaceful sleep as exhaustion took its toll on her.

"You're just going to trust her?" Damon sneered at the sleeping witch. "For all we know, she didn't spell the ring into a Daylight one but just made it look prettier!"

Stefan stared at his brother before taking off his ring and grabbing the one that Angeline had 'spelled pretty' onto his pinky finger and walked outside.

Rebekah's glare at the sleeping witch would have made everyone run for the hills though it wasn't needed as nothing happened to him. Damon's skepticism eventually faded after everyone-including Damon himself-tried on the ring and walked outside to prove that it really was a Daylight ring.

"Fine," he groaned. "It's a Daylight ring and it works well." Placing it in his hand, he gently took Calleigh's hand in his and slipped on the ring to the catcalls from Klaus and Kol.

The pilot finally announced that the plane was ready to get underway and the door closed as the engines revved. Everyone found the part of the plane they wanted to settle in. The plane taxied and then climbed into the sky.

Jeremy smiled down at her and rubbed her back tenderly as she fell into a deeper sleep. He looked over and noticed Elijah was cuddling Elena to him where she had fallen asleep. All this time he had wondered about the original's actions towards his sister but now that he had a mate of his own he felt like he was finally a member of the club.

"I think you understand a little better now," Elijah said softly, "what kind of hold they have on us…"

"I think so. I'm just so worried I'm going to screw this up. I don't have a good track record with much and now I'm responsible for her…I love her." Jeremy confessed softly as he and Elijah were the only two awake in that part of the plane.

"You're doing a good job so far," Elijah smiled at his slumbering niece, "but I'm here if you ever need anything Jeremy."

"Thank you," Jeremy nodded.

Sometime later everyone had gotten up for a mid-flight meal – especially Calleigh. Elena decided that the best seat for the next leg of the flight was on Elijah's lap. She straddled him and he raised a brow at her. Though he was a private person, he enjoyed the feel of her in his arms and how wonderful she smelled. He smirked at her.

"Just what exactly do you think you're doing?" he asked in a husky voice.

"Making out with my husband at forty thousand feet," Elena gave him a truly seductive look before she leaned in and began to kiss him very passionately. It was only a moment before Elijah's hands wrapped around her back to hold her in place as his mouth ravaged hers.

"You two are at it again!" Bonnie groaned as she curled into Kol.

"Two can play that game," Kol grinned and he positioned Bonnie before he gave her a tender kiss. Her eyes fluttered as he pulled away a moment and with a grin of satisfaction that he had his wife's attention he leaned in to kiss her more thoroughly. Caroline was asleep on top of Klaus and he was tenderly stroking her hair with one hand while he read with the other. Rebekah and Stefan were flipping through wedding magazines covertly each hoping that it would take the brothers a while to realize that Stefan had proposed.


	31. Chapter 31

**Chapter 31**

As the dappled light filtered through the two hundred year or older oak trees and onto the lawn the guests filled the five hundred plus chairs arranged on either side of the aisle made of red rose petals topped by white lace to keep them in place. There were flowers everywhere and a forty piece orchestra for the occasion. Elijah took his place with Klaus next to him followed by Kol and Stefan.

"I can't believe we're doing this again," Klaus sighed.

"I don't want there to be any doubt," Kol said.

"Agreed," Elijah said, "and they deserved to have their friends and family present."

"Is she friends with the entire city?" Kol yelped.

"Marrying a Mikaelson is apparently like marrying royalty here," Klaus smirked.

"Apparently," Elijah said. The men straightened as the orchestra stopped what they had been playing and a flautist began to play a delicate and hauntingly romantic solo. Rebekah appeared first followed by Bonnie and finally Caroline. Each woman was wearing an empire-waist gown of jade green with a flowing chiffon skirt. They carried bouquets of orchids and their hair was beautifully styled with delicate braids and curls and each hairstyle incorporated delicate spring flowers. They looked like beautiful woodland pixies. Finally as Caroline reached Klaus the music changed to "The Prince of Denmark's March". It was impressively grand. All of the guests stood and the Mikaelsons looked on wondering what Elijah's bride had chosen to wear. As the drums swelled about forty seconds into the song her carriage finally arrived and Jeremy helped her down.

The emotions that hit Elijah were so powerful that he gripped Klaus' arm without realizing he had done so. She was beautiful - she took his breath away. Jeremy helped her arrange her skirt quickly and then she took his arm as they began the slow measured walk down the very long aisle. Her gown was a corset bodice in cream with an A-line skirt. The entire thing was antique lace and the corset lacings in the back were of the palest pink satin. Her hair was in a French roll on either side of her head and then flowed in long, luxurious curls down her back. The French roll part had orchids tucked into it. Her bouquet was Dendrobium orchids and cream roses. When she finally reached Elijah she was already crying tears of joy. He smiled at her - a full genuine smile.

The minister delivered a beautiful ceremony but Elena and Elijah barely heard a word as they were staring deep into one another's eyes. Once the vows were said and the minister concluded his ceremony Elijah pulled her close and kissed her lovingly.

"Do you think it took this time?" he whispered in jest.

"Yes" she smiled brightly.

"Well if it didn't we may try as many times as you like." She smiled as she kissed him again.

VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV

It had taken quite a bit of research by all three girls and Rebekah but in the end they had been able to find it. It was still forest and so it was that Kol, Elijah, Stefan and Klaus came to be standing in the middle of the woods by a serene pond.

"What are we doing here?" Damon groused as he held Calleigh. Jeremy and Angeline stood a ways away though Calleigh was doing a pretty good job. She hadn't attacked anyone else and been faithful to her blood bag feeding schedule. They were the only 'guests' not part of the wedding party. Kol and Elijah grinned as they looked around. It finally dawned on them.

"This is where we were married – a thousand years ago," Kol marveled. Suddenly the air was filled with music and a glance to Angeline revealed that she was spelling a beautiful orchestral trio – violin, flute and cello. Caroline appeared first in a replica of the beautiful navy gown she had worn in the 1100s, Rebekah appeared next in purple and then Elena in her emerald gown. The men could not take their eyes off them.

Bonnie appeared then, barefoot as a fox in the same style gown only hers was the purest white with gold braided trim. At first when she had discovered that because it had been spelled her hair would return to waist length within a day of cutting it – because the witch who spelled it wasn't available to lift it – Bonnie had been upset but Kol loved it and she had come to embrace it. After all if she wanted something different she could cut it just for that day knowing it would be back long the next morning. Today it was in a beautiful four-part braid designed to lay over her shoulder and down her front. The braid had pearls incorporated and just as she hadn't any at the original wedding the girls had gone without florals of any kind.

Elijah smiled as he remembered fondly their wedding – for he would always count that as the real day they had married. He watched as his youngest brother trembled while he spoke vows to his wife in the old language. It was something to hear your wife tell you that she loved you in the language your heart had first learned to love in. The girls did so often. As it came time to kiss the bride Kol dipped Bonnie and kissed her as the others applauded.

"Oh for goodness sakes!" Klaus finally cried out when the kiss had gone on too long.

VVVVVVVVVVVVVVV

Klaus stood inside of a beautiful chapel and waited for his Caroline to come. He could see the sentimentality of it for her and knew why this place holds a special part of her heart.

 _"My dad would always go on about this chapel," Caroline told him as she walked towards the doors once the plane made a pitstop for Calleigh to get her belongings. "He had lived here for a few years and now, I can see why he loved it. The stained glass windows and the atmosphere in here is so peaceful…it almost seems perfect."_

 _That day, he had talked with the priest about using this old place for his wife's dream wedding and to his surprise, the man agreed._

Now here they were, a few months after Elijah's wedding to Elena, it was his turn. The nerves in his stomach were swirling and twisting around into butterflies when Elijah whispered, "just relax, this is the greatest moment of your life." Klaus had to give him a glare.

"Were you this nervous about your wedding?" he asked with a heated glare and the elder one nodded.

"Oh trust me Niklaus," Elijah said with a pat on his back. "I was much more nervous than you could ever imagine."

Kol and Stefan snickered while Angeline, who wasn't in the wedding, smirked from where she sat in her light pink dress when the orchestra began to play a beautiful melody and one by one, the bridesmaids appeared in floor length dresses of chiffon in a red color, each holding a bouquet of white roses.

The first one was Bonnie who had her hair styled in curls to frame her face at the chin and a secret little smile appeared on her face while Rebekah and Elena appeared behind her, each one also holding that same little smile.

The second the doors opened, a violin and a harp were the only two instruments that were playing as Caroline walked out on Jeremy's arm.

Her dress blew his mind. It was strapless and with a sweetheart neckline while the bodice seemed to fit like a glove, the skirt mimicked Elena's though Caroline's had bits of gold weaved in and out of it, like her hair that she styled the same way that she had it for the ball.

It didn't matter if he had married her now or a thousand years ago, he would always choose her as well as marry her.

It took him a thousand years to find his forever and now, he will never let go.

VVVVVVVVVVVVVVV

They traveled to New Orleans for the wedding of Rebekah Mikaelson to Stefan Salvatore. When an original Mikaelson gets married as many loyal vampires and witches as possibly can turn out – when it's the only girl it's even more. The Loyola Cathedral on the grounds of the university didn't really need any embellishment at all but that hadn't stopped Rebekah and her bridal party. Elijah had spared no expense to give Rebekah everything her heart desired. There had even been a huge rehearsal dinner party and parade the night before!

Now the pews down the aisle were draped with enormous arrangements of roses, calla lilies, hydrangea and others in shades of white, ice blue, and palest green. The entire cathedral was brimming with guests as the orchestra played music to count down the time. Elena, Caroline, Bonnie, Angeline and Calleigh were watching Rebekah pace nervously in the bridal chamber.

"You're not going to have the strength to get down the aisle at this rate," Calleigh remarked and her brogue was more noticeable.

"The cathedral is beautiful," Angeline smiled and Rebekah stopped pacing.

"And packed," Caroline added and she started pacing again as the other girls glared at Caroline.

'This looks like a job for – well me," Angeline smiled and she stood in her floor-length ice blue satin bridesmaids gown and spelled Rebekah to calm down and be able to remember every moment of her special day. Rebekah smiled and hugged her tightly.

The music changed and Elena squeezed Rebekah's hands.

"Alright sis that's our cue to get out there so we can watch you maneuver this gown down the aisle!"

Calleigh started the procession in pale green satin, followed by Angeline in ice blue, then Bonnie in green and Caroline in ice blue. Elena's gown was a beautiful blush colored one shoulder silk and it was a mermaid cut that clung to her every curve. She carried only calla lilies to denote her matron of honor status. Each lady joined her mate as they completed their walk down the aisle. Finally the "Prince of Denmark's March" sounded again.

In the bridal chamber Elijah wiped away a tear as he saw his baby sister in her wedding gown.

"This is your day Rebekah. Stefan loves you almost as much as your family does. You are a beautiful bride and I love you sister." He kissed her on the forehead and then pulled down the fingertip length front veil. He escorted her to the lobby and then two women helped fix her royal length train and veil. Elijah walked Rebekah slowly down the aisle making sure she had her full moment. He wanted her to have everything life had to offer.

Her gown was a beautiful lace creation stunning in its simplicity with a corset bodice and an a-line skirt and then the detachable train in the back which was silk satin inlaid with lace, diamonds and pearls. The gasps as each row glimpsed the back of the gown were audible. Finally they reached the priest who had been compelled for the occasion and Elijah handed Rebekah to Stefan and took his place with Elena.

When the ceremony was over they had celebrated in the Audobon Tea Room until the wee early hours of the morning.

VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV

Rebekah was standing in the Mikaelson ballroom and as she turned the music on, she smiled as the song that was blasting through was Christina Perri's 'A thousand years'.

She didn't know what came over her but as she began to sway, Stefan appeared and pulled her into a waltz Elijah followed along with Elena, Klaus twirled Caroline into formation a moment later and finally Kol and Bonnie joined them.

 _Heart beats fast  
Colors and promises  
How to be brave  
How can I love when I'm afraid  
To fall  
But watching you stand alone  
All of my doubt  
Suddenly goes away somehow_

 _One step closer_

"I've loved you for the longest time Rebekah Mikaelson," Stefan admitted with a warm smile on his face. "I have loved you for the past ninety years and will want to be with you for a hell of a lot longer."

She gave him the same smile that she gave him back ninety years ago as well as a promise kiss.

If the two had looked, they would have seen Henrik smiling at his big sister before turning and holding Mikael's hand as he smiled at his only daughter, they found the peace that they had longed for.

 _I have died every day  
waiting for you  
Darlin' don't be afraid  
I have loved you for a  
Thousand years  
I'll love you for a  
Thousand more_

"I have died and waited for you," Elijah confessed. "I have always loved you and I plan on spending the rest of my life trying to prove to you that I will always love you-even if it takes another thousand for you-" she silenced him with a kiss and when they pulled away, she smiled at him.

"I'll love you for the rest of our eternity."

At her declaration, the forms of Jenna Sommers, John Gilbert, Isobel Flemming as well as Miranda and Grayson Gilbert all looked at each other and nodded as they each found the peace and knew that-no matter what-Elijah Mikaelson will protect her.

Even with his last breath and that was all that they wanted.

 _Time stands still  
beauty in all she is  
I will be brave  
I will not let anything  
Take away  
What's standing in front of me  
Every breath,  
Every hour has come to this_

 _One step closer_

Klaus didn't do the whole 'love declaration' and whatnot but with Caroline, he would do it.

"I love you."

"I'm falling more in love with you than I thought possible." She whispered.

Smiling, Bill Forbes had tears in his eyes as he watched his baby girl-his little angel-dance with her husband and looking behind him, saw that he had found what he had been looking for.

Peace.

 _And all along I believed  
I would find you  
Time has brought  
Your heart to me  
I have loved you for a  
Thousand years  
I'll love you for a  
Thousand more_

 _One step closer  
One step closer_

Kol held Bonnie and whispered as he held her close, "I promise you that I will be the best husband possible. I love you with all my heart Bonnie Bennett Mikaelson."

Shelia Bennett knew that her granddaughter was going to be happy and as she caressed her cheek, she allowed herself to smile at her.

"I've made my peace and I want you to find yours." She whispered and vanished.

~Finis~

 **(A/N: Well there it all is. Thank you so much for reading this. We hope that you enjoyed reading it as much as we enjoyed writing it. Please let us know by reviewing.)**


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